DECEMBER 2016 by ICON Magazine

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december INTERVIEW MEL BROOKS | 22

ICON

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FEATURE COLORFUL WORKS, COLORLESS MISSION | 24

PUBLISHER

Trina McKenna trina@icondv.com

Harry Ryle Hopps (1869–1937) Destroy This Mad Brute—Enlist, 1917 Poster, 41 15/16 × 27 7/8 in. Fr.: 49 ½ x 34 ¾ in. Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin

ART

MUSIC

5 | Nocturnal Sphere 6 | World War I and American Art

30 | POP

8 | EXHIBITIONS American Designers at Preservation Fine Goods Cold Weather, Warm Art at River Queen Artisans Gallery Winter Features at The Snow Goose Gallery 10 | THEATER CITY VALLEY

Rebecca Hall in Christine.

FILM 12 | Aquarius 14 | Christine 16 | FOREIGN Childhood of a Leader 16 | DOCUMENTARY Free to Run

Mel Brooks and Madeline Kahn taken on the set of Young Frankenstein circa 1974. Photo: Steve Schapiro

18 | FILM ROUNDUP Fences La La Land Nocturnal Animals Paterson

32 | SINGER / SONGWRITER Pete Townshend’s Deep End Suzanne Vega Roy Orbison Chatham County Line Toni Neilson 34 | JAZZ, ROCK, CLASSICAL, ALT Terry Dolan Guidi/Petrella/Sclavis/Cleaver Lindsey Webster Ray Charles Kenny Burrell The Monochrome Set 37 | JAZZ LIBRARY Thad Jones 38 | FOODIE FILE Harp & Crown Root 41 | HARPER’S FINDINGS HARPER’S INDEX 42 | L. A. TIMES CROSSWORD 43 | AGENDA

43 | AGENDA Moe Brooker (American, born 1940), Intentions a nd Improvisations, 2012, oilstick on paper, 21 x 21 in. © Moe Brooker

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filipiakr@comcast.net PRODUCTION

Richard DeCosta

Kaitlyn Reed-Baker

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

A. D. Amorosi / divaland@aol.com

Robert Beck / robert@robertbeck.net

Nick Bewsey / nickbewsey@gmail.com Jack Byer / jackbyer@verizon.net

Peter Croatto / petecroatto@yahoo.com James P. Delpino / JDelpino@aol.com

Edward Higgins / ehiggins2581@gmail.com Geoff Gehman / geoffgehman@verizon.net Mark Keresman / shemp@hotmail.com

George Miller / gomiller@travelsdujour.com Thom Nickels / thomnickels1@aol.com

R. Kurt Osenlund / rkurtosenlund@gmail.com Bob Perkins / bjazz5@aol.com Burton Wasserman

Tom Wilk / tomwilk@rocketmail.com

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duction in whole or in part without written permission is strictly prohibited. ICON welcomes letters to the editor,

ENTERTAINMENT 21 | ICEPACK

Raina Filipiak / Advertising

Keith Uhlich / KeithUhlich@gmail.com

28 | REEL NEWS Don’t Think Twice Hooligan Sparrow Little Men Heart of a Dog

20 | THE LIST

EDITORIAL Executive Editor / Trina McKenna

ON THE COVER: Marsden Hartley (1877– 1943) Himmel, c. 1914–15 Oil on canvas with painted wood frame, 47 ¼ x 47 3/8 in. Fr.: 49 5/16 × 49 5/16 in The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri, Gift of the Friends of Art, 56-118. Page 6.

editorial ideas and submissions, but assumes no re-

sponsibility for the return of unsolicited material. ICON

ESSAY AND PAINTING BY ROBERT BECK

art

OCTURNAL SPHERE

FOUR IN THE MORNING, off Seal Rock. Or so it looks in my mind. When I last saw the Mearl Maid she was on stands at the Jonesport Shipyard, about to be launched for the winter season. I did a small plein air painting of her while running my wash in the Shipyard laundry. I love really salty fishing boats. They are great examples of form following function. Commercial fishing is all business, and a dangerous one at that. It’s remarkable, where the boats go and what they do. The shipyard is filled with stories and ghosts in suspended animation, resolute in their yearning to be out at sea, itching for the next voyage. A couple of old wood-hull draggers stand together in the line: veterans mingling and reminiscing while waiting to take their place in the parade. I enjoy hanging out with them. A recent big moon put me in the mood to paint a night scene. I’d been back from Maine for a month but still felt the pull of the tides and missed the coastal air. I missed the sounds, too. When the rumble of diesel engines would wake me at four in the morning I’d prop myself up in bed to look out the window to watch the running lights crawl across the harbor. At times I could hear the lobstermen’s voices, and the muffled bumps and thumps of them rowing to their boat moorings and stowing the oars. Those impressions were still fresh in my mind. I would lie there looking at the skies, too. Weather fronts crossing Maine collide with those in the Bay of Fundy forming clouds that appear and disappear from one moment to the next, their undersides illuminated by lights from the Island. Squalls and fog can come out of nowhere. Although morning is my favorite time of day, the middle of the night is most exciting. When you are outside at night the world is reduced to a concentrated

sphere of sensations. You are acutely conscious of things close by. Sounds take on a clear and dry voice. The machinery of perception resides just behind your eyes. You move through the hours of darkness in a crystal ball. The woods are more alive at night than in the day. If you put your hand on a tree, it feels different. It knows you are there. It feels you back. Trees are just part of the place in the day but they are the place at night. City lights can seem to go on forever but that sphere of reduced awareness still applies. During the day you consider the next block or two but at night the next thirty feet. Things emerge suddenly. There is immediacy in the air. Night on the water is all of that, adding

a layer of vulnerability to the mix. It is both beautiful and severe. All of those thoughts were running through my mind as I started the painting: the intimate feelings, smells and sounds that form the presence of night. At first I drew the boat in its entirety, taking up half of the panel. I was planning to emphasize the vastness of sea and sky against the cocoon of the small boat, but as I began to apply paint, drawing on memories and impressions to guide my choices, the close-in intimacy and heightened awareness made itself known. I changed my mind. It wasn’t the out there I was looking for, it was the in here. I wiped the painting down and began again, this time bringing the viewer much nearer to the boat and its sensory realities.

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I used a photo that I took of the Mearl Maid as a reference in this painting so I didn’t get the rigging too wrong—actually two photos because I couldn’t get far enough away from her and had to shoot the front and the back halves separately. I illuminated the boat as I thought it would appear with a full moon high in the night sky, inventing the sea and stars. I search for a sense of time in a painting—the existence of before and after. Is the boat moving? Can I hear the water splash and the throughm of the engine? Can I feel the waves swell? I’m never sure where to find those triggers. Truth is I never really get there. Not all the way. It’s just paint, after all. But each time I try I get closer. I know. I can smell it. n

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art

WORLD WAR I Jane Peterson (1876–1965) Red Cross Work Room 5th Avenue, NYC during the War, c. 1917 Watercolor on paper, 17 ½ × 23 ½ in. Fr.: 25 ½ x 31 ½ in. Collection of Jonathan L. Cohen

and AMERICAN ART

WORLD WAR I WAS a stark prism through which American artists observed various aspects of the period that unfolded before and after years of hostility in western Europe. At a time of much turmoil, it provided an unprecedented global perspective for shaping the way combatants were perceived and remembered as citizen warriors in service to their country. Other artists showed the home front and efforts of the Red Cross and other relief organizations. An exhibition currently on view, offering these artworks is in the Samuel Hamilton Building of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Center City Philadelphia.

Nahum Tschacbasov (1899–1984) Madonna and Child with Gas Masks, 1938 Oil on canvas, 36 x 24 in. Fr.: 45 x 34 in. The John & Susan Horseman Collection of American Art

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Charles Webster Hawthorne (1872–1930) Belgium (Mother and Child), 1914 Oil on canvas mounted on board, 40 × 40 in. Fr.: 46 x 46 x 2 in. Collection of Dr. and Mrs. David A. Skier

BURT WASSERMAN

World War I and American Art is scheduled to remain on public view through April 9, 2017. The exhibitors include Ivan Albright, George Bellows, Marsden Hartley, George Luks, Horace Pippin, Edward Steichen, and Man Ray. In the substance of their efforts, it becomes vividly evident they had not reacted earlier to events of such remarkable trans-global consequence. In fact, taken as a whole, the show is a thoughtfully varied overview of an exceptionally critical period in our nation’s history For example, Hugh Beckenridge is represented by a sad looking composite of lifeless, nude figures piled on top of each other in a mound of multi-hued flesh running from light tan to medium red. Clearly, giving ex-

pression to a condition of ultimate silence, and regardless of their earlier differences, in death the various figures have come to share a common state of being. Now that they no longer draw breath, they have become equal. In addressing a state of ultimate armistice, the artwork titled The Pestilence shows that in the next world everyone becomes equal, socially and politically. No longer is anyone superior or inferior to others.

John Singer Sargent (1856–1925) A Street in Arras, 1918 Watercolor on paper, 15 9/16 × 20 ¾ in. Fr.: 28 ¾ x 34 x 1 ½ in. IWM (Imperial War Museums), London, England, Gift of Sir Muirhead Bone, 1919

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EXHIBITIONS

Ray Hendershot, AWS, NWS, The Farmer, watercolor, 23 x 39.5

American Designers Preservation Fine Goods 9 Church Street, Lambertville, NJ Wed., Thurs., Fri., 1:30-6:00; Sat. & Sun., 11 AM-6 PreservationFineGoods.com Opening Party December 2, 5-8 PM Preservation Fine Goods presents authentic, timeless and well-designed home goods by American designers. Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll find an open and comfortable environment that blends elegant design and high caliber craftsmanship. Founder Kate Marsh, with an incredible eye for exceptionally designed items and a passion for working with small businesses, has focused on assembling a well-edited collection of finely crafted, heirloom-quality home goods and furniture exclusively designed and made in the U.S.A. The store features work by local and national designers and makers including Edgewood Made (PA), Doug Johnston (NY), Anna Karlin (NY), Louise Gray (MN) and many more. These are small to middle-batch production lines of original, inspired designs that honor the ideals of American craftsmanship where natural materials are elevated to heirloom pieces.

Cold Weather, Warm Art River Queen Artisans Gallery 8 Church Street, Lambertville, NJ 609-397-2977 RiverQueenArtisans.com Thursday through Monday December 4-February 11 Opening reception December 4, 3-6 PM Since the opening of River Queen Artisans Gallery in April of 2010, the focus has been on representing established and emerging local artists. While the gallery continues to evolve, this cornerstone remains strong. River Queen Artisans Gallery stands out by showing artists whose work is playful, quirky, whimsical and even bizarre.There is something unique and affordable for every art lover, as there are paintings, prints, digital art, photography montages, sculptures, jewelry, assemblage art, greeting cards and CDâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s from local musicians. There is always something exciting happening at the gallery with five shows a year, each one lasting about ten weeks, and at least one live performance from local musicians monthly.

Winter Features The Snow Goose Gallery 470 Main St., Bethlehem, PA Tues.-Fri. 10-5:30, Sat. 10-5, Sun. 11-4 610-974-9099 thesnowgoosegallery.com Through January 31, 2017 Approaching a landmark twenty-fifth anniversary, The Snow Goose Gallery features original works and limited editions by some of the world's finest artists including: Thomas Arvid, Paul Eaton, Richard William Haynes, Ray Hendershot, Gerald Lubeck, Ben Marcune, Linda Rossin, Mary Serfass, Alexander Volkov, Chuck Zovko, and others. Their signature event is The Art of the Miniature, an international exhibition of fine art miniatures, held here each May. The Gallery also specializes in distinctive custom framing, and boasts Bethlehem's only Certified Picture Framer.

Mary Serfass, MAA, Into the Night, ink-colored pencil, 18 & 23k gold leaf. v(Penny added for scale)

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theater VALLEY

CITY

Whitman by Fire. Last month some 40 folks sat in a semi-circle at night in semifreezing weather on an 18th-century farmstead in rural South Whitehall Township. For some 40 minutes they heard Walt Whitman singing the body electric and the universe magnetic. Strolling around torches, lanterns and a bonfire he stoked with logs, actor Michael Fegley celebrated mothers, male lovers, rainbow tribes, a Native American chair caner and dung-balling beetles. He wisely tamped down Whitman’s campy extremes, speaking with earnest exultation, casting his character as a passionate, compassionate chieftain. He and director/producer Daniel Amenda chose judicious, juicy passages from the first editions of Whitman’s poem “Song of the Open Road” and his poetry collection “Leaves of Grass,” a bible of American literary landscape. They animated moments poetic and prosaic with nimble arrangements. Whitman whispered to the heavens on his back, stumped for human rights on a stump, walked invisible through a forest with a red lamp, resonantly saluting ‘the orchards of God.’ The performance was hosted by Selkie Theatre founders George Miller and Kate Scuffle, the farm’s resident married managers, as a fundraiser for Treasure House Theater, launched by Amenda and Fegley to bring the multitude-containing Whitman to theaters, parks, nature centers and wherever else multitudes multiply.

The Legend of Georgia McBride. The Arden’s Arcadia Stage presentation is so funny the play has been extended into December. Matthew Lopez’s rollicking musical farce about Casey (Matteo Scammell), a broke heterosexual Elvis impersonator forced to become a drag queen to provide for his pregnant wife, has sent Center City audiences into non-stop laugh track mode. Ditto van Reigersberg of Martha Graham Cracker fame stars as queen diva Miss Tracy Mills who teaches Casey how to lose the macho and take pride in his hidden femininity. Casey’s metamorphosis from wooden Marlboro man to a faux woman in sequins makes this one-hour-and-45-minute production seem much shorter. The somewhat contrived plot twists, such as when Casey’s wife, Jo (Jessica M. Johnson) experiences a meltdown after discovering her husband’s new profession (she later embraces Casey’s high heels) have so much charm and gaiety that we hardly notice the script’s hackneyed roots.

Aliens, Immigrants & Other Evildoers. The Pilgrims came to America without papers, so why weren’t they persecuted and prosecuted? That’s one of many rhetorical lightning bolts hurled by Jose Torres-Tama in his bracing, embracing solo play about leveling the playing field for Latino aliens—illegal and legal, out of power and in power. Performing at Touchstone Theatre, a favorite safe harbor, the Ecuador-born, New Jersey-raised performance artist/provocateur keenly and movingly played Central Americans who cleaned up his Jose Torres-Tama adopted hometown of New Orleans after it was ruined by Hurricane Katrina. He became reverently irreverent as a red-suited Chicano comic/carnival barker, soberly recalling that Mexican families were lynched for refusing to give up their American lands, slyly insisting that hybrid children “get a lot of good mileage.” Tama spiced his political stew with hip-hop chants, snake-oil preacher peddling, eerie miming in voodoo costumes, satirical statistics and a hilarious Star Wars film scroll starring Donald “CHUMP” Trump as Jabba the Pimp. He easily turned spectators into partners, quizzing a young lady from Germany about her sexual relations with foreigners, answering a baby’s squeals, encouraging quiet listeners to “roll out the laughter—don’t be afraid.” After the show he urged those who didn’t like the show to say so to their enemies, some of whom could be the target of his T-shirt “No Guacamole for Immigrant Haters!” The Pirates of Penzance. Gilbert & Sullivan’s musical is a madcap merry-go-round for wacky pirates, daffy damsels and orphans actual and invented. Muhlenberg College trumped up the mayhem with colorful splashes of vaudeville, clever lashes of camp and lyrical references to Donald Trump and Alec Baldwin, who impersonates Trump as a Crazy Eddie swashbuckler. Noah Sunday-Lefkowitz played Frederic, the pirate apprentice, with refreshingly light confusion and cockiness. Kelly Shannon made Ruth, the clingy pirate maid, a spinning top on a storm-tossed ship. Nicky Rosolino’s peacockpreening Major-General was a marvelously entertaining blend of Mickey Rooney, the King of Siam and Peter Pan. Director Charles Richter, a savvy G&S pro, seamlessly stitched mincing miming, paint-peeling posing and good, old-fashioned Victorian ornamenting. Choreographer Samuel Antonio Reyes devised dances with the precision of birds convening and dispersing; I won’t soon forget his breezy ballet for pirouetting pirates and cops. n — GEOFF GEHMAN 10

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When the Rain Stops Falling. When a fish falls from the sky, you can either fry up some chips or ask the universe what’s up with the weather. In Andrew Bovell’s When the Rain Stops Falling (The Wilma) the effects of climate change forms the backdrop of a centuries-old family drama delivered in Tom Stoppard time-lapse fashion. While time juxtapositions can be tricky in a Tower of Babel kind of way, director Blanka Zizka has created a structurally elegant narrative that is really poetry in motion. Actors Keith Conallen, Nancy Boykin, Sarah Gliko and Steven Rishard deliver outstanding performances, while Matt Saunders’ set and projection design transforms the Wilma stage into a transcendental canvas that helps makes coherent what is, in fact, fragmentary. While Wilma productions generally tend to err on the side of existential angst, When the Rain Stops is a work that once seen will not soon be forgotten. Marcus/Emma. While the Center City theater world tends to steer clear of populist plays like The Road: My Life with John Denver, (billed as a “rare glimpse of the man behind the music”), Driving Miss Daisy or Jesus Christ Superstar, it does cater to plays about politics, personal alienation, the meaning of truth and all things post-apocalyptic. City dwellers, in fact, love to be intellectually challenged when they’re not in Martha Graham Cracker mode. Consider InterAct Theatre Company’s 2017 Marcus/Emma (working title) at The Drake’s Proscenium. Marcus/Emma will mash together the legacies of anarchist Emma Goldman and Black Nationalism leader Marcus Garvey “to spin their legacies in the desperate hope of regaining prominence in our increasingly inequitable society.” But is “inequitable” really the correct word here? Will Marcus/Emma be an onstage continuation of the 2016 election? Perhaps it’s time to reach for an axe and head over to the 11th Hour Theatre Company at Christ Church Neighborhood House for its January production of Lizzie, a rock ‘n’ roll retelling of the life of Lizzie Borden. Watching Lizzie take an axe and give her mother forty whacks might be this season’s perfect post-election cathartic release. If an axe isn’t your thing, try 1812 Productions’ opening of Jennifer Child’s play, The Carols, (with Mary Martello and Anthony Lawton, until December 31) for an oddball comedy about a trio of sisters and a jobless Catskills comic. An Iliad. The Lantern Theater’s production of An Iliad is a tour de force that captures the spirit of theater’s storytelling roots in 100 intense, non-stop minutes. It also showcases one of Philadelphia’s best actor’s, Peter DeLaurier, as The Poet, an eternal voice who relates the story of Achilles and Hector at Troy from a script that includes masterful and funny contemporary asides. While the text (written by Director Lisa Peterson and Denis O’Hare) could be shortened, the power of An Iliad will keep your eyes focused on DeLaurier. If you see nothing else this winter, make sure you head to The Lantern before the play closes on December 11, although the production is likely to be extended. n — THOM NICKELS

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PETE CROATTO

film

Aquarius

THAT AQUARIUS IS HARD to describe is exactly the point—and what makes it great. The winding Brazilian drama, featuring a terrific performance from Sonia Braga, isn’t so much a profile, but a molting of a character to a person. To her children, Clara is the stubborn matriarch. With her friends, she’s a vibrant, bawdy presence. To the world, she’s a veteran music critic anchored to the past. Everyone is correct. Everyone is wrong. The peril of categorization runs throughout Aquarius. It starts early with a chest of drawers in Clara’s apartment. It’s 1980 and a birthday party for her beloved aunt is winding down. The old woman isn’t focused on the fawning speeches or loved ones crowded in the living room. She is fixated on the chest. We flash back to her youth, when she used the piece of furniture as an amorous prop, a function the manufacturers certainly didn’t intend. That chest remains in the beachside apartment in Recife where Clara still resides, a reminder for us to challenge our illusions. Now widowed and 65, Clara (Braga) is the only resident in Aquarius, which is poised for an upscale renovation. She wants to stay; the building’s owner want to buy her out. Her daughter (Maeve Jinkings) and the owner’s smarmy son (Humberto Carrão) fear for Clara’s safety, but she’s draped in warm colors; sunlight streams through the deck window. It is a sanctuary. Writer-director Kleber Mendonça Filho keeps challenging us. When a trio of teens arrive on the beach, our first thought is they’re going to disrupt Clara’s class. Instead, they join in. Clara is all honesty when confronting her youthful white-collar nemesis, and he follows suit. Confrontations like this call for diplomacy, but nothing is left un-

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said. Aquarius is jarring because it eschews the typical film conventions. We wait for that manufactured obstacle or the camerawork to give us a clue—does the titled angle mean something? It’s a fool’s errand. Clara’s desire to stay in the apartment—she endures condescending pleas and an upstairs orgy and a religious gathering—keeps the story centered. Identity is the theme. Clara’s children see her the way Clara saw her aunt 30-plus years ago, as a firebrand and a “good” woman. But what do those words mean? Filho shows the details behind what we casually dismiss. He methodically reveals Clara’s layers. He doesn’t flinch. Sex, for example, is presented with no filter and no excuses. It’s filmed up close and lighted with the intimacy of an auto repair shop waiting room. The non-theatrical meandering only confirms that Clara doesn’t represent a cause or a contrivance, only herself. Braga, speaking in her native tongue, displays a reactive ease that is transfixing: it perfectly aligns with a character defending herself against the constant input of others. There’s a scene where a young journalist tries to elicit a firm answer from Clara on technology and music. Clara admits to using the latest innovations, even liking them. Most of her answer entails why her copy of John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s Double Fantasy is more than an object she purchased. Albums have their own stories beyond the ones a songwriter provides. The journalist keeps up her agenda, but the point is made. Categorization and easy answers may be good for quick solutions, business deals, and articles, but not for people. Aquarius is a feat of storytelling: it makes empathy utterly compelling. [NR] n

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MARK KERESMAN

film

Christine

HERE HAVE BEEN movies about how we get our news that mix comedy and drama—The Front Page, Citizen Kane, Broadcast News, Fletch, and Ace in the Hole, movies that show how news is disseminated is can be newsworthy in itself. Christine focuses on one woman’s sojourn in the field of broadcast news on the local level, and how trends and ratings—and personal ambition, illness, and frustration—impact the news we get. This film is based on the true story of the late Christine Chubbuck, who committed suicide on a live TV news broadcost. She was in part the inspiration for Network’s Howard Beale, portrayed by Peter Finch. UK actress Rebecca Hall (The Town, Transcendence) portrays Christine, a local reporter in 1974 Sarasota, Florida eager to rise in the world of TV news. The thing is, Christine wants to rise doing relevant, meaningful news stories, while her boss wants “juicy” stories that’ll bring big ratings for the station. Hall’s performance as Christine is rich and complex, evoking that of Robert De

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Niro’s Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver. Like Bickle, Christine is both likable and exasperating, fascinating and somewhat unpleasant. It’s mentioned that Christine has some form of mental illness but is not elaborated upon. Her co-workers try to reach her in personal and professional capacities and she constantly pushes them away. She’s very self-conscious to the point of being self-absorbed, yet we see her volunteer at a facility for handicapped children, giving educational puppet shows for the kids. She lives with her hippie-ish mother Peg (J. SmithCameron) and has a crush on fellow newscaster George (Michael C. Hall, Dexter) and her life is further complicated by an ovarian cyst which might make having children very difficult. Needless to say Christine is a very unhappy person—and she’s also the kind of person that keeps things to herself and doesn’t easily share emotionally with others. In point of fact, her style as an interviewer comes off as rather frosty. She’s hard on herself and others, too. As with Taxi Driver, Christine is a study in the slow but steady mental disintegration of its central character. The direction by Antonio Campos is almost documen-

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tary-like, nearly and suitably claustrophobic. Chubbuck, who physically resembles Christine, gives one of the best lead performances in a movie this year—nuanced and lively without overacting. Michael C. Hall (Dexter)—who can’t seem to leave Florida behind—is fine as the justplain-folks, booming-voiced newscaster who tries to pierce Christine’s invisible armor. Tracy Letts is excellent as the blustery blowhard newsroom boss Michael, also the source of the humor in this movie. The mid-‘70s ambiance of this movie is palpable—yes, we actually dressed like that, and there’s plenty of sentimental pop from that era—Olivia Newton-John’s version of Bread’s marvelously sappy “Everything I Own,” for one—and an ironic use of “Love is All Around,” the theme to The Mary Tyler Moore Show, which for younger readers was a TV show about an independent woman as producer of a TV news broadcast. Christine is not a film to watch if you’re very depressed—it is a grim, sad but true tale. But her story is presented with such depth of humanity that makes it well worth seeing…and Hall deserves an Oscar nomination for her work herein. n

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MARK KERESMAN

foreign

MARK KERESMAN

DOC

At the 1967 Boston Marathon, Kathrine Switzer resists as race director Jock Semple tries to remove her from the course. Photo: Boston Globe-Getty Images

Free to Run Tom Sweet. Photo: Agatha A. Nitecka

Childhood of a Leader EVEN HITLER, STALIN, AND that “new-ish guy” were children once…but what kind of children? Were they bad seeds or did they learn to be SOBs? That is a question for the ages, but this is a movie review about the supposed beginnings of such a demagogue, a UK/French/Hungarian co-production, The Childhood of a Leader. Set in France shortly after World War I, we see the cheery antics of an androgynous, vaguely angelic-looking child (Tom Sweet), the son of an American diplomat and French mom. He’s tossing rocks at people leaving a church…subtle, huh? He’s spoiled, passive-aggressive, mean, and somewhat manipulative. Presumably, given the setting, we are to see the parallels and potential for the beginnings of fascism in this setting. Father (Liam Cunningham) and Mother (Bérénice Bejo) are very busy, and they don’t seem overly neglectful of the child—but most of the time Prescott, the child, is in the care of adults hired by the parents. We see Father trying to deal with the representatives of the Treaty of Versailles, which, as history nerds know, inadvertently help set the stage for WWII. The film never really makes a connection between the emergence of fascism and this obnoxious child. With the lighting (drab, overcast, the sun didn’t shine in France back-when), the portentous camera angles (plenty of POV shots of the camera going up and down stairs, leading us to think Damien, err, I mean Prescott is going to push someone down, yet doesn’t), and a booming, heavy-handed ominous music score, we are led to believe we’re in for a character study or origin story of a budding fascist. What we get, however, is much ado about nothing. The acting is good, and Tom Sweet is very good as the Child to whom tomorrow presumably belongs. Robert Pattinson appears briefly and pointlessly. In some ways this movie is a parody of European art films—to wit: Lots of close and lingering shots of people talking in a very measured manner...and walking and talking some more. There are panoramic views of the lovely French countryside which have nothing to do with the movie or subject, and arty shots of stained glass and ancient architecture. This is one of those movies wherein many viewers would likely be waiting for something to happen—the pacing is leaden at best and static at worst. In essence, the film is all style and no content. The Omen movies weren’t great cinema but at least they were scary, not dull. If you want to see a neer-do-well, mean-spirited drunkard made famous by media manipulation, see A Face in the Crowd. [in French and English; not rated] n 16

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HISTORY IS A FUNNY thing to forget. Stuff we take for granted today was almost unthinkable 50 or even 20 years back. Take running; it’s one of the most common forms of solo exercise. Before that, it was a competitive—up to and including the Olympics—sport. In the 1960s, when people started to run for exercise—in a non-contest context—they were looked upon by many as, simply, masochistic weirdos. Now, if you want to get exercise, reasonably fresh air, and the great outdoors, all you need is the right pair of shoes. It was not always thus. Directed by Pierre Morath, the French/Swiss/Belgian documentary Free to Run explores the sometimes-controversial aspects of running as exercise and sport. Morath interviews and profiles several runners from several countries (USA, Britain, France) including some history-makers: Katherine Switzer, the first woman to ever run in the Boston Marathon (and someone tried to physically “eject” her during it); Fred Lebow, a runner who became the sport’s biggest promoter and was instrumental in moving the NY Marathon from the Bronx to Central Park, and Steve Prefontaine, one of the first superstars and rebels of the sport. In a period when most athletes were squeaky-clean-cut, the dashing Prefontaine had shaggy hair, a droopy moustache, and wanted running to be recognized as a sport in which the athlete could be compensated (paid). Back then, one had to be an “amateur” to run in, say, the Olympics. If one got paid, she or he was disqualified from competing. Further, before Switzer and Joan Benoit, women were generally not even seriously considered to be runners at all—there’s footage of a crackpot/sexist French doctor expressing his concern that lady-parts would get jumbled-up by running. This movie is cannily laid-out via archive footages and voice-overs to reflect the time periods discussed—the rights of women, for example: Switzer went to run in Switzerland when Swiss women had not been granted voting rights (didn’t happen ‘til 1971). There are parallels drawn between the ‘60s emerging feminist movement and a mass of multi-cultural females within a marathon. The gamut of runners is touched upon— some live for it, some do it to get or stay in shape; first it’s a noble sport, then it’s commercialized. Run runs out of gas (sorry) a little toward the end. For the most part, sports and history buffs will find lots to admire and enjoy here. n

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KEITH UHLICH

film roundup

Paterson

Fences (Dir. Denzel Washington). Starring: Denzel Washington, Viola Davis, Mykelti Williamson. It’s taken a while for the late August Wilson’s play (written in 1983 and premiered in 1987) to make its way to movie screens, and the results are more than worth it. One of the best known of the ten-part “Pittsburgh Cycle,” Fences focuses on Troy (Denzel Washington), the patriarch of a lower-class 1950s African-American family. Formerly a Negro League baseball star, he is now an embittered garbageman who takes out his many disappointments, both self- and societally-created, on his family. (The great Viola Davis plays his wife Rose— not quite the unthinkingly devoted spouse she initially seems.) Washington, who also played Troy onstage in a 2010 revival, does dual duty as actor and director. To the latter, his work is very thoughtful and affectionate; to the former, he uses his innate film star magnetism to make Troy a study in contradiction—the glimmers of promise still evident in a man gone emotionally and morally to seed. [N/R] HHHH1/2

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La La Land (Dir. Damien Chazelle). Starring: Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, John Legend. The world could use a good musical. Sad to say the latest feature from Whiplash director Damien Chazelle is a mediocre song-and-dance flick that thinks it’s a great one. Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone are the lily-white lovers, each of them dreamers striving for success in their respective art—he a jazz musician, she an actress. Stone gives it her all, and even gets a sureto-be-Oscar-clip showstopper in the Anne Hathaway-Les Misérables vein, while Gosling does his umpteenth variation on moony machismo (it’d really help if he could carry a tune). Chazelle’s influences are clear: Everything from the bittersweet fantasias of French director Jacques Demy to the abstract ballet that closes Vincente Minnelli and Gene Kelly’s An American in Paris. What’s missing, then, is any sense that Chazelle is bringing something new and inspired to the form. He’s basically a one-man imitation game. So many familiar notes performed with great technical skill—yet the results are resoundingly hollow. [PG-13] HH1/2

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Nocturnal Animals (Dir. Tom Ford). Starring: Amy Adams, Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Shannon, Aaron Taylor-Johnson. There was nowhere to go but up from the hash Tom Ford made of A Single Man. Nocturnal Animals finds the designer-turned-filmmaker in a mode more suited to his superficially slick temperament. A story in three layers, Nocturnal Animals follows an emotionally vacant L.A. art dealer (Amy Adams) whose ex-lover (Jake Gyllenhaal) sends her his latest successful novel. The book is visualized onscreen as a lurid tale of a father (also Gyllenhaal) whose family is murdered by leering rednecks (a spectacularly awful Aaron-Taylor Johnson is their leader; a magnificent Michael Shannon is the lawman who helps hunt them down). As she reads the text, Adams’ character also flashes back to the halcyon days of her romance, when life appeared fuller and more promising. Ford seems to want to make some statement about love deferred for career advancement. But this is more of a revenge story that constantly strains for profundity. Best stick to dressing Hollywood royalty for Vanity Fair covers, Tom. [R] HH

Paterson (Dir. Jim Jarmusch). Starring: Adam Driver, Golshifteh Farahani. That poet of the NY independent filmmaking scene Jim Jarmusch makes verse the subject of his latest, lyrical effort. Adam Driver stars as a bus driver named Paterson who lives in Paterson, New Jersey and models his work ethic on William Carlos Williams, the writer who once penned an epic poem entitled “Paterson.” He listens to animated conversations on his bus route; he takes inspiration from the lovelorn patrons of the bar he frequents as well as his adoringly flighty wife (beautifully played by Golshifteh Farahani); and he hones his verses in concentrated snippets during each day’s natural lulls (the film takes place over a leisurely paced week). Too cute? In conception, perhaps. But in action, Jarmusch’s rhymes of place and character, as well as the steadfastly casual tone, are ingeniously simple and direct, bringing us fully into Paterson’s unique worldview—the calm observer who transforms life’s tumult into a thing of true beauty. [R]

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DVDS REVIEWED BY GEORGE OXFORD MILLER

Hooligan Sparrow.

reel news

Don’t Think Twice (2016) HHHH Cast: Mike Birbiglia, Keegan-Michael Key, Chris Gethard, Gillian Jacobs, Kate Micucci, Tami Sagher Genre: Drama, Comedy Rating R; 92 minutes. When Jack (Keegan-Michael Key), one member of a six-person improv group in Manhattan, gets cast for a television comedy show, how do the others respond? For 11 years the troupe has poured their souls into the success of their show. Now, they’ve lost their theater lease and Jack has finally earned the big break they’ve all dreamed of. Maybe it’s time to “think twice” about their hopes and futures. Envy, and guilt for the envy, consume every member of the ensemble as they struggle to redefine their relationships, which necessarily requires redefining their life goals and who they are without each other. Is it time for a real 9-to-5, or maybe to slip Jack a script to show to his new producers? The tension, selfdoubt, and internal conflict provide hilarious and insightful fodder for writer and director Mike Birbiglua, who plays Miles, the leader of the group. 20

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Hooligan Sparrow (2016) HHHH Cast: Ye Haiyan Genre: Documentary, Social Activism Directed by Nanfu Wang. Rating: None; 84 minutes. English & Mandarin with English subtitles. In 2001, the Chinese activist Ye Haiyan began using social media to spotlight the human rights atrocities she experienced. In 2010, she championed the rights of Chinese prostitutes by offering to give free sex to migrant workers. Later, she protested the light sentence of a school principal convicted of using children to bribe government officials. Throughout her grassroots movement, the government harassed, threatened, and persecuted her. The New York filmmaker Nanfu Wang returned to her homeland to document Haiyan and the civil rights violations she opposed. Even with ubiquitous cameras bearing witness, the government blatantly enforced its totalitarian edicts. Wang’s efforts to record the violations met the same retaliation as the protestors. This is not dispassionate reporting at a distance, it’s embedded journalism with riveting personal action on the front lines of the battle.

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Little Men (2016) HHHH Cast: Theo Taplitz, Michael Barbieri Genre: Drama, Family Rated PG; 85 minutes. When Jake (Taplitz) moves to Brooklyn, he meets Tony (Barnieri) in middle school and the two boys immediately bond. But a storm rising on the horizon is about to wreak havoc on their families and test their friendship. Turns out that Jake’s family moved to Brooklyn when his grandfather died and left them the apartment building. He also owned the building where Tony’s mother has a dress shop, whom he apparently loved very much and charged ridiculously cheap rent. The imminent threat that they could be charged market-price for the shop turns the families into mortal enemies. Suddenly, coming of age with your best buddy becomes a battle royal between adult economic priorities and childhood friendship. Worst of all, how the conflict affects the kid’s lives gets absolutely no consideration. The story astutely traces the intricate relationship between the boys as the adults create conflict all around.

Heart of a Dog (2016) HHH Cast: Laurie Anderson Genre: Documentary, Memoir Written and directed by Laurie Anderson. Rating: None; 75 minutes In this experimental narrative—inspired by her dog Lolabelle—dedicated to her late husband, the rock singersongwriter Lou Reed (“Walk on the Wild Side”), performance artist Laurie Anderson creates a very personal essay that dives deeply into both the individual and societal psyche. With a collage of art, 8mm home movies, original music, actual news footage, voice over, and flashbacks, the artist creates a profound philosophical treatise on life and loss. The imaginative and always unpredictable Anderson performance addresses companionship, Big Brother, spiritual rejuvenation, and the existential issues of love and the inevitable pain that losing it brings. By highlighting impressions from her life, she illustrates how our memories and perceptions shape our own personal narrative, and how the reality we create defines and gives meaning of our lives and the lives of others. n

ICEPACK

A.D. AMOROSI

The Palm on Broad Street has never been just a restaurant or bar or even a steakhouse. Since its opening in 1989, The Palm has been a watering hole and gathering place power room for Philly’s hungry white collar elite in politics, law and business. Rather than fill the city’s usual private clubs, the men and women behind Philly’s biggest deal makings came to hang hard at The Palm (the seventh built within the chain) from lunchtime through happy hour and long into (my favorite time) many late late nights of short Scotches and clinking forks. Highlighted by Philadelphia painter Zack Bird’s 2,000+ caricatures, habitués never got enough of seeing themselves, and eventually came back more to self-stargaze than nosh. Times changed, Philly restaurant competition built up a head of steam, and now The Palm has been closed since Leap Day 2016, promising to come back this coming spring 2017 without the mass of old faces adorning its many yellowing walls. (I’ve heard two stories here: that there will be new Philly faces added, and that the re-do will be face free.) Oddly enough, no renovation has started as of this month, even though Palm major domos insist all re-design is on schedule for spring. One fun fact is that there currently is a program in place for those who wish to re-claim their old “faces” and will be able to claim the old caricatures before the restaurant’s grand reopening, and each salvaged face will come with a certificate of authenticity. Want to save your face? Try phillyfaces@thepalm.com or 215-546-7256. Now that First Person Arts—Philadelphia’s home of memoir and story slams—just finished celebrating its 15th year anniversary, the local arts organization is gearing up for an exciting collaboration that starts in January 2017. Commonspace, in partnership with WHYY, the Pew grant peeps and Philly’s memoir and documentary art organization, will look to “contextualize and connect current events” for a broadcast program, including a weekly podcast, a bi-monthly 30-minute radio segment, and a series of 40 short radio segments, to air weekly on WHYY-FM’s local Morning Edition, All Things Considered, and NewsWorks Tonight. There will also be a live event component to Commonspace. Stay tuned. After filming his wild What Now? live comedy showcase at Lincoln Financial Field in 2015 and releasing it in the summer of 2016, locally born comic Kevin Hart will hold another, longer, homecoming of sorts when he starts filming The Untouchables here starting in January. Joined by Breaking Bad and LBJ actor Bryan Cranston, Hart’s Untouchables (not a remake of Brian DePalma’s cops and robbers movie) will be directed by Neil Burger (he lensed Limitless with old pal Bradley Cooper and shot bits of it in Center City Philadelphia in 2010 with Robert DeNiro) and is an adaptation of a 2011 Kevin Hart. French buddy comedy. Ooh la la. As this is the first major motion picture since Creed and Split (M Might Shyamalan’s suspense film, now opening in January 2017) to film in the city, the Greater Philadelphia Film Office is surely pleased as things have been quiet on the movie making front for a minute. n

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A. D. AMOROSI

INTErview

EL BROOKS

Blazing Saddles and the need to laugh out loud

WITHOUT SOUNDING CORNY OR cloying, if ever there was a need for laughter—big, loud, hard, outrageous and outraged laughter—it is now. No matter what side of the aisle you were on in the election, the slog was long and vicious. With every turn and at every corner, unarmed citizens and unprepared police are shot and killed or beaten without reason. Throughout 2016, music lost more greats—Bowie, Prince, Leonard Cohen, Mose Allison, Leon Russell, Sharon Jones—at one time than any year previous. One of the few things that unify us is the idea that we are more divided than we are unified. No, laughter at year’s end is a must. The Trocadero’s comic Gung Show Holiday Spectacular with Skeletor on December 10 and two showcases at the Tower Theatre— on December 9 the teaming of Adam Sandler, David Spade, Nick Swardson and Rob Schneider; Cedric the Entertainer on December 31—should be great for postelection chuckles. But if you wish to howl with unbridled joy at raucously politically incorrect humor, go see Mel Brooks introduce his 1974 film Blazing Saddles—“The funniest film of all time, no really” by his account—with the direcTO GET TO 1974’S WESTERN MOVIE PARODY tor-writer-comedian BLAZING SADDLES, YOU HAVE TO GO BACK TO doing a lengthy talkback session after the BROOKS’ LOVE OF WRITING IN COMMITTEE, AN State Theatre (Easton, ODD THING CONSIDERING HOW LONG IT TOOK PA) event on December THE BROOKLYN-BORN COMIC TO WIN INDE9. Though Brooks was PENDENCE FROM SID CAESAR’S YOUR SHOW OF always known for his penning and directing SHOWS’ WRITING TEAM; A TRUE MURDERER’S prowess, he’d make for ROW OF COMIC MINDS—VCARL REINER, NEIL damned fine stand-up if SIMON, DANNY SIMON, AND MEL TOLKIN. he ever chooses another gig, beyond being responsible for the Oscar and Tony Award-winning The Producers, Young Frankenstein, High Anxiety and Spaceballs. At 90, Brooks is far from retirement with a promised new project that should find him “in back and in front of the camera again soon, very soon, I promise you, A.D.” To get to 1974’s western movie parody Blazing Saddles, you have to go back to Brooks’ love of writing in

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Photo: Michael Grecco.

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GEOFF GEHMAN

feature

Old friends and new business partners—one white, the other black—build an African-American art collection to foster a forum on aesthetics, politics and ethics BERRISFORD BOOTHE WAS PREVIEWING his first major art auction when he struck tarnished gold. The Easton resident couldn’t wait to bid on a portfolio of prints by important African-American artists gathered by Romare Bearden (1911-1988), an innovative, influential artist, philanthropist and activist. His one major concern was that its value would be diluted by moisture damage and ink-transfer staining. Boothe went to an auction-house bathroom to place a discreet call to his auction lifeline. Lewis Tanner Moore, a respected collector, curator and broker for six decades, assured Boothe that the stained prints could be restored safely. The Bucks County resident also told Boothe that he couldn’t afford not to bid on the Bear-

people of color to debate everything from aesthetics to politics while serving everyone from at-risk youngsters to at-risk elderly artists. “We’re using themes inside the African-American experience to foster cross-cultural understanding and reconciliation,” says Boothe, a professor of art at Lehigh University. “We’re not trying to embarrass anyone about their lack of knowledge of black culture. We’re leaving the door open for them to write their own narrative. We’re prompting them to ask: How can we protect these cultural assets? Who else did our common history forget?” The Boothe-Petrucci project began in June 2012 in Montreal. Petrucci was visiting galleries with one of his

GUIDED OVER THE PHONE BY BOOTHE, PETRUCCI PAID NEARLY DOUBLE THE TOP ESTIMATE FOR “WANDERING BOY,” DOX THRASH’S 1940 WATERCOLOR OF A MUSCULAR YOUNG MAN IN A WHITE HAT AND A LOOSE WHITE SHIRT, SITTING WITH A PENSIVE, POWERFUL GAZE. IN THE PROCESS HE SET AN AUCTION RECORD FOR A THRASH WATERCOLOR.

den portfolio, which was printed by Robert Blackburn, the venerable owner of a vaunted workshop. Armed with Moore’s advice, “the ace in my back pocket,” Boothe bought the portfolio for a fair price, outbidding rivals he thinks were ultimately scared off by the moisture damage. After having the stained prints conserved, he added the Bearden collection to a collection of more than 200 works by African-American artists he’s been building over four years and 20,000-plus miles. Boothe’s patron/partner is his longtime friend Jim Petrucci, a prominent developer/builder of commercial and industrial properties in New Jersey and the Lehigh Valley. Together, they’ve assembled a remarkably diverse, balanced group of objects by black pioneers, outsiders and revolutionaries, male and female. In 2015 the Petrucci Family Foundation collection was presented at three institutions, including the African American Museum in Philadelphia. A fourth exhibit of works by more than 80 artists, including Bearden, will open this month at a museum in Portland, Ore., a hotbed of racial conflict and resolution. Started as an investment, the Petrucci collection has blossomed into an educational, ethical mission. A white man from New Jersey and a black man from Jamaica are displaying a rainbow coalition of works by 24

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four children when he decided he wanted to start investing in art. The decision was less an epiphany than a natural evolution. Petrucci’s sister is a painter-printmaker. His grandfather was an acclaimed landscapist. At Princeton University, where he majored in American history and was a second-team all-Ivy League defensive tackle, he wrote a senior thesis on white and black patronage during the Harlem Renaissance, the cultural revolution that flourished in upper Manhattan in the lower 20th century. “I don’t think you can really understand American history if you don’t understand African-American history,” says Petrucci, whose family foundation supports black students. “If people can’t try to walk in each other’s shoes, we’re going to continue to slide backwards.” To help him invest in art, Petrucci turned to Boothe, a major investor in life. The men met during a 1988 tour of artist studios in Easton; that day Petrucci and his wife bought two Boothe monoprints. Boothe enjoys seeing those works, along with his later pieces, while visiting the Petrucci home with his two sons. For nearly 30 years Petrucci has kept close tabs on Boothe’s many roles. Abstract painter. Realist printmaker. Abstract/realist photographer. Installation artist. Collaborator with improvisational musicians.

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Teacher of African-American art. Co-founder of Lehigh’s Africana Studies program. Restless aesthetic experimenter. Relentless networker. One of Boothe’s admirers is Curlee Holton, an established multi-media artist and founding director of the Experimental Printmaking Institute at Lafayette College, Boothe’s alma mater. “Berris has such a highly developed aesthetic eye,” says Holton, who has printed Boothe’s works at EPI. “He not only understands the process of art, he understands the impact of art. He believes that art should not only matter, it should make a difference.” Boothe has relied on veteran collection builders to help him build his first major collection. His guru is Lewis Tanner Moore, who as a high schooler organized an exhibit of works by black artists not represented in books by white art historians. The child of an art-collecting lawyer, Moore lives with his wife in a 19th-century mansion bursting with art objects and artifacts by African-Americans and Africans. The salon/museum includes paintings by his great-uncle Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859-1937), the first AfricanAmerican student at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and the first internationally famous AfricanAmerican artist. Moore has served as Boothe’s scout, sounding board and cultural sage. Boothe has internalized Moore’s colorful sayings about collecting economically (“You buy the object, not the store”), ergonomically (“Every collection has a point of view; every collection has the flow of a river”) and emotionally (“It’s not about the value of your collection; it’s about the quality of the characters you collect”). Following Moore’s lead, Boothe has built a collection revolving around African-American identity, history and even sexuality. Calvin Burnett’s ink drawing “Man Shortage” depicts women dancing together while their men are off fighting World War II. Hale Woodruff ’s “Coming Home,” a Cubist/realist linoleum cut, represents a return to the American South from 1920s Paris, where expatriate black artists co-existed with Picasso and other Cubists. Jacob Lawrence, best known for his vibrant, sharp portraits of black Southern agrarians who migrated to the industrial North, contributes “Confrontation at the Bridge,” a renowned silkscreen of ‘60s racial conflict.

Boothe has paid close attention to African-American women artists, a group often ignored by museum curators and gallery owners. He’s acquired objects ranging from Sonya Clark’s “Afro Abe,” a $5 bill with Abe Lincoln sporting an Afro of ground peacock feathers, to Kara Walker’s silhouette of a black woman shouldering a larger silhouette of a white grand dame. Walker created quite a stir in 2014 when she displayed her 35- by 75-foot sculpture of a sphinx-like Aunt Jemima figure, made of sugar-coated foam, in an abandoned sugar factory in Brooklyn. Boothe was among the more than 150,000 who visited a monument to overworked, underpaid black artisans. The Petrucci collection developed during a surge in the value of art works by African-Americans. The decadelong explosion has been fueled primarily by the passion of longtime private collectors, the recent interest of key curators and comparatively affordable prices. In 2014-15 five major museums hosted retrospectives by overlooked African-American artists. In 2014-16 the National Museum of African Art displayed 62 objects from the collection of comedian Bill Cosby and his wife Camille. The show included Henry Ossawa Tanner’s painting “The Thankful Poor,” which Camille Cosby bought for $250,000, 10 times its top auction estimate, as a 1981 Christmas gift for her husband. Petrucci and Boothe contributed to the boom during 2013-14 sales at Swann Auction Galleries in Manhattan, a relatively new leader in the market for fine art by AfricanAmericans. Guided over the phone by Boothe, Petrucci paid nearly double the top estimate for “Wandering Boy,” Dox Thrash’s 1940 watercolor of a muscular young man in a white hat and a loose white shirt, sitting with a pensive, powerful gaze. In the process he set an auction record for a Thrash watercolor. Petrucci paid a high price because he believes “Wandering Boy” has a high emotional value. He plans to use the portrait as an inspirational visual model for annual tributes he underwrites for varsity football players and 12 top students at a troubled high school in Irvington, N.J. He launched the event 15 years ago after reading a New York Times story about a football player shot dead in front of the school. “There’s something about the gaze of the wandering boy, or man, that tells me he’s wondering what the future will bring,” says Petrucci. “All young people are concerned and anxious about what the future will bring. We’re all staring into a pretty big world; we’re all wanderers and wonderers.” Young people played an important part during three 2015 exhibits of works from the Petrucci collection. Youngsters drew their own versions of images at the African American Museum in Philadelphia. Students wrote intimate essays in the Gettysburg College catalog. At William Paterson University a roomful of Irvington High football players heard Debra Priestly, an inventive AfricanAmerican multi-media artist, describe how she preserves her family heritage as ghostly pictures in pickling jars. Youngsters will be a target audience at the Portland Art Museum, which this month will open Constructing Identity, a five-month exhibit of works from the Petrucci collection. Brian Ferriso, director and chief curator of the Oregon institution and a longtime Petrucci friend, says he

Dox Thrash (American, 1893–1965), Wandering Boy, ca. 1940, watercolor, 27 x 23 in. © Estate of Dox Thrash

Curlee Holton (American, born 1951), Cleansing of the Soul, 2008, water- Arvie Smith (American, born 1938), Trapeze Artist, 2014, oil on color, 26 3/4 x 22 1/3 in. © Curlee Raven Holton canvas, 40 x 30 in. © Arvie Smith, Courtesy the artist

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Celebrate the Season Bethlehem By Night Bus Tour Through Dec. 14, Thurs.-Sun. 5, 6 & 7, Dec. 15-30, Mon.-Sun. 5, 6 & 7(No tours on Dec. 24-25) Presented by Historic Bethlehem Museums & Sites. Bus will leave from the Visitor Center at 505 Main Street, Bethlehem, PA. $18 adults, $9 children, children 3 and under free. 800-360-8687. HistoricBethlehem.org Christmas City Stroll Presented by Historic Bethlehem Museums & Sites Through Dec. 14 & Jan. 2-8, Wed.-Sun. 11 a.m. & 4, Dec. 15-31, Mon.-Sun. 11 a.m. & 4, Dec. 24, 11 a.m. & 1 (Closed on Dec. 25 and Jan. 1) Experience The Christmas City on a walking tour of one of America’s National Historic Landmark Districts. 505 Main Street , Bethlehem, PA. $15 adults, $9 children, children 3 and under free. 800-360-8687. HistoricBethlehem.org Historic Horse-Drawn Carriage Rides Through Dec. 14: Thurs.-Sun. 3-9.; Dec. 15-31 Mon.-Sun. 3-9. (No carriage rides on Dec. 3, 24 & 25). Presented by Historic Bethlehem Museums & Sites. 505 Main Street, Bethlehem. 800-360-8687. HistoricBethlehem.org SteelStacks Gingerbread House Competition and Exhibit Through Dec. 18. Gingerbread house creations in a variety of different categories. Presented by ArtsQuest. SteelStacks, Bethlehem. Free. 610-332-3378. ChristmasCity.org Christmas City Follies XVll Through Dec. 18. Follies celebrates the holiday season with giddiness, poignancy, pop culture, and joy for all. Featuring The Old Guy, Little Red, The Pajama Sisters, and the immortal Shopping Cart Ballet. Touchstone Theatre, 321 East 4th St., Bethlehem, PA. 610-867-1689. Touchstone.org Celebrate in the SouthSide Arts District Through Dec. 25. Shop & dine in Bethlehem’s vibrant SouthSide, a destination for gifts and culture, with mainstays like Cleo’s Silversmith Studio & Gallery and Touchstone Theatre. One-of-a-kind offerings and special sales. SouthSideArtsDistrict.com

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Christmas Putz and Star & Candle Shoppe Through Dec. 31, Closed Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Thurs. & Fri. 1-7, Sat. 10 a.m.- 8, Sun. 1-5 Presented by Central Moravian Church. The Christmas Putz is a retelling of the story of Christ’s birth through narration and music, while tiny lights illuminate each miniature scene. Free. 40 W. Church Street, Bethlehem, PA. 610-866-5661. centralmoravianchurch.org Anniversary Holiday Putz Trail Through Feb. 12 (No tours Dec. 24 - 25 and Jan. 1). Moravian Museum of Bethlehem, Single Sisters’ House, 1810 Goundie House and the Central Moravian Church. 800-360-8687. HistoricBethlehem.org Christkindlmarkt at SteelStacks Dec. 1-4, 8-11, 15-18. Thurs. & Sun. 11 AM.-6.; Fri. & Sat. 11 AM.-8. From the majestic history of the Historic Moravian Bethlehem District to the post-industrial revitalization of the Bethlehem Steel plant into an arts and cultural campus, Christmas City has something for everyone. Presented by ArtsQuest. PNC Plaza, SteelStacks, 645 E. First Street, Bethlehem. 610-332-3378. ChristmasCity.org Edgeboro Moravian Church Christmas Putz and Christmas Shop Dec. 1-Dec. 22. Presented By Edgeboro Moravian Church. Free. 645 Hamilton Avenue, Bethlehem, PA. 610-866-8793. edgeboromoravian.org/communityoutreach/putz Twelve Twenty-Four Dec. 2, & 23, 8:00. The holiday rock orchestra inspired by The TransSiberian Orchestra, celebrating their 15th year. Mauch Chunk Opera House, 14 W. Broadway, Jim Thorpe, PA. 570-3250249. Mcohjt.com Christmas with Tim Zimmerman and the King’s Brass Dec. 6: 7:30 Presented by Central Moravian Church. Doors open 6:45 Free. 406 Main Street, Bethlehem, PA. 610-866-5661. centralmoravianchurch.org

ason in Lehigh Valley Bad Santa Dec. 7, 7:30 Presented by ArtsQuest. This 2003 comedy stars Billy Bob Thornton, Tony Cox, Brett Kelly and Bernie Mac. This film is part of the hilarious Holiday Quote-a-Long series. $10 regular; $8 students & seniors. SteelStacks, 101 Founders Way, Bethlehem, PA. 610-332-3378. steelstacks.org Chapin Family Holiday Show Dec. 9, 7:30. The famous Chapin Family comes together to bring alive the music of Harry Chapin. ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks, 101 Founders Way, Bethlehem. 610-332-3378. Steelstacks.org Luminaria Night Dec. 10, sundown-11.; Rain Date: Dec. 11. Display of luminaria candles in bags lining the streets. Kits can be purchased in advance. Proceeds benefit community members in need. Presented By New Bethany Ministries. Bethlehem. 610-691-5602. luminarianight@gmail.com Moscow Ballet’s Great Russian Nutcracker Dec. 10, 3 & 7. A timeless holiday tradition, featuring handpainted sets and breathtaking scenic design. Russian fairytale characters, including the Snow Maiden, add to the imaginative storytelling that sets this show apart. State Theatre, 453 Northampton St., Easton, PA. 610-252-3132. Statetheatre.org It’s a Wonderful Life Dec. 15-17: 1:30. ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks, 101 Founders Way, Bethlehem. 610-332-3378. SteelStacks.org Eric Mintel-Jazz Holiday Hits Dec. 16, 7:30. Holiday music including A Charlie Brown Jazz Christmas Extravaganza, a funky version of Do You Hear What I Hear, Jingle Bells and more. Miller Symphony Hall, 23 N. 6th St., Allentown. 610-432-6715. Millersymphony.org The Nutcracker Dec. 17, 1:00 & 4:00 & Dec. 18, 2:00. Presented by the Pennsylvania Youth Ballet/Ballet Guild of Lehigh Valley with live music by the Southside Sinfonietta and a children’s choir. Principal

dancers from Boston Ballet in the roles of Sugar Plum Fairy and Cavalier together with a cast of over 100 dancers. Baker Hall, Zoellner Arts Center, Lehigh University, 420 E. Packer Ave., Bethlehem, PA. ZoellnerArtsCenter.org or 610-758-2787 Canadian Brass Holiday Show Dec. 18, 7. Genre-bending versatility and joyous performance, they are masters of concert presentations and have developed a uniquely engaging stage presence. Miller Symphony Hall, 23 N. 6th St., Allentown. 610-432-6715. Millersymphony.org Twelve Twenty-Four Dec. 27, 7:30. The Holiday rock orchestra inspired by The TransSiberian Orchestra, celebrating their 15th year. Zoellner Arts Center, 420 E. Packer Ave., Bethlehem, PA. 610-758-2787. Zoellnerartscenter.com Jimmy & the Parrots: Holiday Parrot Party Dec. 27, 6:30 For more than 12 years, Jimmy and the Parrots have been playing to delighted crowds all over the United States as well as the Caribbean.$10-$12 advance; $12-$15 day of show. ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks, 101 Founders Way, Bethlehem, PA. 610-332-3378. www.steelstacks.org PEEPSFEST® Dec. 30, 10 a.m.-4, Dec. 31, 10 a.m.-5:30 Presented by Just Born Quality Confections. Each year, fans arrive from all over the country to enjoy family-friendly activities and marvel at the PEEPS® Chick Drop—a 4.5-foot tall, 85-pound lit PEEPS® Chick that descends at 5:15 on Dec. 31 to commemorate the beginning of an exciting new year. Free. SteelStacks, Bethlehem, PA. 610-332-3378. steelstacks.org PEEPSFEST® 5K Dec. 31, 12:30 Presented by ArtsQuest. End 2016 with the 7th Annual PEEPSFEST® 5K sponsored by Just Born! The race starts and ends at the SteelStacks Campus at 1pm. Each participant will receive samples of PEEPS Products and the first 500 registrants will receive a PEEPS Fest 5K long sleeve t-shirt. $30. Bethlehem, PA. 610-332-3378. steelstacks.org

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the list

DECEMBER 4 CHARLES LLOYD The Memphis, Tennessee-born tenor saxophonist, flutist and Hungarian tárogató-ist best known for the gentle soul of 1996’s

The Wilco/Geraldine Fibbers’ noise guitarist finds an adoring flanged jazz sound in his latest album (and Blue Note label debut) Lovers and hits the road. (Johnny Brenda’s)

14 MAC MILLER The whitest Pittsburgh rapper you know is now sober and dates Ariana Grande. Con-

Ok, yes, Morrison is the teacher from FOX TV’s Glee, but he is a big Broadway star from

9 PSYCHIC TV Since the days of the industrial Throbbing Gristle, Genesis P. Orridge has been a radical performer with which to contend. As Orridge

back-to-back brilliant Dream Weaver and Forest Flower doesn’t tour often, but when he does, it is always a gorgeous affair. Showing up for his recent I Long To See You is his long-standing backing band pianist Jason Moran, bassist Reuben Rogers, and drummer Eric Harland. (Montgomery College)

7 PETER MURPHY The true undead singer and goth rock kingpin beyond Bauhaus’ initial single in the postpunk 70’s, “Bela Lugosi’s Dead,” returns to Philly, only this time the bucolic land scape of Sellersrville, PA. Murphy is fond of Middle Eastern music too, so figure that into the program. (Sellersville Theatre)

7 MØ The new queen of Denmark sings in dulcet tones and has enough sense of weird rhythm

gratulate him on The Divine Feminine—his best record since he made songs about “Donald Trump.” (Fillmore)

15 PINK MARTINI A holiday show from the swizzle stick of swinging 50s’big band pop is always a delicious thinhg, especialy when it is tied to a new Franco inspired LP, Je dis oui!, featuring activist Kathleen Saadat and Rufus Wainwright. Ooh la la. (Keswick Theatre)

22 LIL UZI VERT

split the Gristle for the avant-pop of Psychic TV, he morphed both sound and image (literally as his sex changed) with an outlook more modern day William S. Burroughs than punk icon. (Boot & Saddle)

9 DAVID CROSBY

15 KRISTIN HERSH

23 BEN VAUGHN

Now that no one in Stills, Nash and Young likes David Crosby anymore, it’s time for him to hit the road with a handful of youngins who don’t know the trouble he can be and do the solo folksy harmony jawn. (Keswick Theatre)

The never shy, immensely resourceful onetime Throwing Muse has an album and a

The Philly/Jersey hepcat behind the composed themes to That '70s Show (1998), and 3rd Rock from the Sun (1996) – to say nothing of producing Ween records—returns home on a wing and a prayer and probably an appearance from his pal Jerry Blavat. (Boot & Saddle)

9/1 LU PHILHARMONIC

10 ELIZA HARDY JONES

8 ANDY SHAUF Andy Shauf is the saddest Saskatchewan Canadian singer-songwriter we know. No one names an album Waiting for the Sun to Leave if otherwise. (Boot & Saddle)

8-11 NELS CLINE-LARRY OCHS-GERALD CLEAVER TRIO NIGHT ONE

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Philly’s Eliza Hardy Jones—a classical pianist once known for her role in the Buried Beds— has led a life of quiet aspiration, soul and folk since leaving the Bedroom. This show signals the next slate of solo songs. (Boot & Saddle)

11 96.5 AMP RADIO: “LET IT SNOW” W/CHAINSMOKERS, JOJO, CHARLI XCX Camden’s waterfront center warms up its chill with a holiday handful of electro-pop acts including 2016’s gold-plated hit makers The Chainsmokers. (BB&T Pavilion)

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Forget about Meek Mill. Uzi is Philly’s finest nu-rapper since Schoolly D. These are his last shows before he hits the boards in 2017 for an opening slot on The Weeknd’s tour, so catch him before he blows up. (Fillmore)

27-31 BENNY ANDERSSON AND BJÖRN ULVAEUS’ MAMMA MIA!

Mahler’s Symphony No. 6 in the hands of the Lehigh University Philharmonic sounds more sweetly Viennese than strudel. Eugene Albulescu directs. (Zoellner Arts Centre)

to sing on Major Lazer’s worldwide smash “Lean On.” (Union Transfer)

The Light in the Piazza, South Pacific, Hairspray and most recently on Broadway in Finding Neverland. Fellow thespian and Broadway blogger Seth Rudetsky will join Matthew on stage as host and pianist. Dig that. (Perelman Theater)

book, Wyatt at the Coyote Palace, she’ll debut at Tin Angel just weeks before the valued Old City venue shuts down for good. Get there for that reason alone. (Tin Angel)

17 WORK DRUGS CHRISTMAS SPECTACULAR Philly art pop ensemble Work Drugs have made the holiday their own with specific references to all things local so expect Mummers and cheesesteaks. (Boot & Saddle)

17 BROADWAY UP CLOSE SERIES WITH MATTHEW MORRISON

The ladies of ABBA may have sung them, but the boys Benny and Björn wrote them staged them as Mamma Mia!, made a stage and screen sensation several times over and now, this is the beginning of the end, as this limited holiday engagement in Philly is part of its final farewell tour. Waterloo! Allentown, PA native Lizzie Markson appears in one of the lead roles, so there’s that, but c’mon, no more “Dancing Queen”? (Merriam Theater)

31 KURT VILE What better depressing way to end the old bad year with Philly’s answer to the question, What would happen if Neil Young played before Sonic Youth, huh? Huh? (Fillmore)

Photo: Dana Lane

Make the Season Bright in Clinton, New Jersey

SANTA’S WORKSHOP AND VISITS FROM SANTA Santa’s workshop on the terrace of the Hunterdon Art Museum is on display for all to see through January 2, 2017. Santa will visit on Saturdays, December 3, 10, and 17 from 1pm to 3pm.

CANDLELIGHT NIGHT Come and get your holiday shopping done under the warmth of candlelight in downtown. Let us help you find that special gift for that special someone. Stores are offering late-night shopping. December 10, dusk till 9pm.

RED MILL MUSEUM VILLAGE FESTIVAL OF TREES A showcase of beautifully decorated Christmas trees and wreaths will be on display at the Red Mill Museum. The tree and wreath display includes a glimpse of the incredible private collection of Nutcrackers, generously on loan from Gwen and Tom Miller. These donated trees will be available for you to bid on in a silent auction and all proceeds from the event will benefit the Red Mill Museum. Through December 11(closed Monday)10am-4pm. Admission: $5 Members and Children under 12: FREE

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MUSIC POP

FOR EVERY UNHAPPY MUSICAL trend in 2016—namely the death of your heroes from Bowie to Cohen to Prince, to at press time, Sharon Jones, to say nothing of bro country and anything Lady Gaga did with a cowboy hat on—there was a winning one, that not only advanced the sound, but the image and design, too, of what pop would be moving forward. Making Book After having spent decades morphing into video and filmic arts as well as that of the computer and the Internet, pop is moving backward in a good way as it combined with book and magazine forms in 2016. Soul-hop’s spaciest cadet Frank Ocean not only popped out Endless quietly and without commotion, the singer-producer released a second album mere weeks later, only this time teamed with a tall, W-like glossy art magazine—Boys Don’t Cry—to go with Endless’ immediate follow-up album, Blond. Not only did the heavy, colorful mag concentrate on cars, fashion and Ocean’s obsession with kittens, it came with its own third new CD of music. Then there is Beyonce’s sister Solange who—in her continued, successful quest to separate her own spaced-out, quirky sense of soul-hop from that of her sister—did so most brilliantly by making her recently-released #1 album, A Seat at the Table, available as a thick, hardcover art book with designs by the singer. Yes, it is mostly filled with Solange snaps by photographer Carlota Guerrero and thought-bubble lyrics from the smashing Seat—that’s great. Celebrating Nina Simone So far, 2016 saw Oscar nomination for the documentary What Happened, Miss Simone? and the release of author Alan Light’s biography of the same name to say nothing of Passaic NJ daughter Zoe Saldana doing not-so-terrible in a bio-pic, Nina, released and dissed this summer. After Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” Simone’s own “Feeling Good” is a song-du-jour on every singing comNina Simone live at Montreux, 1976. petition television has to offer. Nothing compares, though, to this month’s first-time release of the sturdy vinyl The Phillips Years; a collection that presents Simone—the pianist, singer, composer and interpreter—throughout the start and subsequent rise of the black civil rights movement of the ‘60s with a wounded, sensuous, strong and stirring voice as her greatest weapon. Remember, she would’ve stayed a classical pianist if Philly’s Settlement Music School had not rejected her, so their loss is our gain in terms of ethnographic roots blues, folk, gospel, show-tunes and jazz. The Further Popification of EDM/The Further EDMing of Pop If EDM remix big wigs like Skrillex found themselves continuously at the top of the charts (from Biebs to Rick Ross with “Purple Lamborghini”), it was a matter of time before EDM pop bands like The Chainsmokers—2016’s top singles acts “Closer” and “Inside Out”—would make a scene. Luckily its new EP, Collage is charmingly cute and their BB&T gig on December 11 will show off its ‘tween social skills. The return of Kris Kristofferson In recent years, poetic country composer and rough-hewn vocalist Kristofferson is known solely for his acting work in a slew of movies far worse than those that commenced his acting career (2016’s Traded and Dolphin Tale 2 vs Scorsese’s Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore and Peckinpah’s Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid). Leaving little time for music, Kristofferson hasn’t been part of any dynamic since his time as the mussed-up muse of The Highwaymen (Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, etc.). Fortunately, Kristofferson is putting his lousy movie career on hold to release new raw campfire folkie demos (The Cedar Creek Sessions), look backward at his musical prime (the 16-CD Complete Monument & Columbia Album Collection), touch down with old pals (Live: American Outlaws, The Highwaymen), and a gig at the Sands Bethlehem on January 29. n 30

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25 COLORFUL WORKS, COLORLESS MISSION

booked the show partly to expand an already expansive dialogue about race in a city with a White Man March and a Youth Environmental Justice Alliance. Ferriso graduated with Petrucci from the Delbarton School, a Benedictine academy in Morristown, N.J. He was there when Petrucci started a Big Brothers Big Sisters program that matches 12 seniors with 12 boys considered “unmatchable” because of family problems, including intimidating fathers who don’t live at home. “Jim is an incredibly hardworking, honest leader, with the fortunate and the less fortunate,” says Ferriso, who was Petrucci’s wrestling teammate. “He’s disarming, but also inviting. He wants the punch in the gut to come from a place of dignity.” “I’d like to get the collection into the hands of as many young people as humanly possible,” says Petrucci. “My interest is to make it very kid- and family-friendly. I’d like it to be the kind of collection that will be comfortable for my two kids in their 20s as well as my 8and 9-year-olds.” The partnership between Boothe and Petrucci has stretched their relationship. Petrucci has taught Boothe about the business world’s tight deadlines and budgets. Boothe has taught Petrucci about the art world’s slippery attitudes and latitudes. Both men have learned a lot about the auction world’s roller-coaster rides. Petrucci and Boothe insist their friendship has never been threatened by debates over finances or personal tastes, two divisive forces. “We’re very forthright with one another, which makes for easy communication,” says Petrucci. “Berris suffers no fools, which I appreciate. In that way, we’re cut from the same cloth.” Boothe: “The first sign that our partnership threatens our friendship, I quit.” Petrucci: “Perhaps we’re setting an example for mutual understanding. Berris has really

Sam Middleton (American, born 1927), Love Day, 1963, mixed media, 34 x 39 in. © Sam Middleton

Herman “Kofi” Bailey, Young Woman from Yoruba, charcoal, graphite, and chalk on paper. © Herman Bailey

embraced the project, shaped the project, taken ownership of the project. It’s a good example of a patron finding the absolute best talent and then getting out of the way.” Boothe yearns to get out of his own way. He’s been enlightened, and exhausted, by driving tens of thousands of miles to visit auction houses, galleries, museums, studios and dealers’ homes--an odyssey eased by his dedicated assistant Devyn Leonor Briggs, an artist with Jamaican and Colombian roots. Last year he spent more time making art, and building an international audience for his art, during a two-semester sabbatical from teaching at Lehigh. Yet, like a typical missionary, Boothe began his academic break by teaching two sessions of the Lafayette course African American Art II. Substituting for Curlee Holton, he discussed his art, the Petrucci collection and the need for young professionals to help archive the careers and lives of elderly, overlooked black artists. Established African-American artists, he says, deserve to “work more and worry less about their legacy.” “We’re dealing with a country with a massive trove of negative imagery of AfricanAmericans,” says Boothe. “What we’re offering here are corrective, positive images that sometimes address long-standing negative perceptions and ignorance. We don’t want to collect pretty pictures that just whitewash black life. We want to collect master works that define humanity, that show characters in their full, most authentic human moments.” n Geoff Gehman, author of The Kingdom of the Kid: Growing Up in the Long-Lost Hamptons (SUNY Press).

Easton

celebrates the holidays

SHOPPING More than 50 shops and boutiques with everything from climbing gear, to antiques, to handmade gifts, to retro video games makes it easy to find a gift to fit everyone on your list.

SHOPPING GOT YOU HUNGRY? We’re serving up 35+ restaurants with menus ranging from Columbian hot dogs to frog legs. And who can miss our 106’ Easton Peace Candle in Centre Square, setting the holiday mood for the whole downtown.

MUSIC, DANCE, MAGIC Enjoy a holiday tradition at the State Theatre with Moscow Ballet’s Nutcracker, a magical and timeless classic that comes to life with music, dance, hand-painted sets and breathtaking scenic design. Visit Christmas in the Colonies at the 1753 Bachmann Publick House, a Victorian Holiday at the Mixsell-Illick Museum, or a Retro Christmas Party at the Sigal Museum. There is something to please everyone in Easton during the holiday season. Find more information and a schedule of events at EastonMainStreet.org

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music SINGER / SONGWRITER Pete Townshend’s Deep End HHH1/2 Face The Face Eagle Rock Pete Townshend of The Who has toured infrequently as a solo artist. Face The Face, a CD/DVD package, is a welcome addition to his solo catalogue, capturing him and his big band at a 1986 show in France to promote White City: A Novel. Working without The Who, Townshend went in a different direction, recruiting a 16-piece band that included Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour, a five-man brass section (The Kick Horns) and five backing singers. Townshend sounds rejuvenated from the opening number as “Won’t Get Fooled Again” gets a new shot of energy from the brass arrangements. As expected, Townshend focuses on his solo material. “Slit Skirts” offers an unflinching portrait of marital turmoil, while “After the Fire” examines the wreckage of an affair’s aftermath. He also shares the spotlight with his band members. Gilmour delivers a powerful version of his own “Blue Light,” while the horns and backing singers take center stage on the title track. Townshend branches out from rock, giving a jazzy reading of “I Put a Spell on You” and a funky version of “Night Train” with help from his band. Townshend strips down “Pinball Wizard” to just a vocal and guitar and demonstrates there’s enduring life in the Who classic. (14 songs, 79 minutes/CD; 15 songs, 87 minutes/DVD) Suzanne Vega HHHH Lover, Beloved: Songs From An Evening With Carson McCullers Amanuensis Productions Suzanne Vega stretches herself artistically by venturing into musical theater with Lover, Beloved: Songs From An Evening With Carson McCullers. The CD finds Vega performing in character as the author, whose novels include The Member of the Wedding and The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. Best known for the hits “Luka” and “Tom’s Diner,” Vega makes a successful transition into singing in the voice of McCullers while incorporating elements of blues, jazz and show tunes into her music. 32

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“Carson’s Blues” wouldn’t sound out of place in a 1940s night club as Vega offers this description of the writer: “A child-

ish liar/A devilish bitch/I can be innocent and charming/And suddenly switch.” “New York is My Destination,” co-written with Broadway composer Duncan Sheik, sounds tailor-made for the stage with its memorable melody and Vega’s confident vocals describing McCullers’ journey from her native South to the Big Apple. “We of Me” is a catchy pop song that Vega uses to explore McCullers’ attraction to both men and women. “Harper Lee” details not only McCullers’ views on the To Kill a Mockingbird author but her assessment of ten other writers. Vega deftly handles the lyrical twists and turns with aplomb. Lover, Beloved serves as a preview of her two-act play about the life and times of McCullers and suggests a promising new chapter in Vega’s career. (10 songs, 33 minutes) Roy Orbison HHHH The Ultimate Collection Monument/Roy’s Boys/Legacy The Ultimate Collection serves as a solid, if not quite definitive, overview of Roy Orbison’s career, ranging from his time on Sun Records in the 1950s to his comeback with the Traveling Wilburys and posthumous success with the Mystery Girl CD after suffering a fatal heart attack in December 1988. Working with Sam Phillips, Orbison initially gained notice with “Ooby Dooby,”

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an exuberant rockabilly single in 1956. Orbison found fame with his ballads of romance and loss—“Only The Lonely,” “Running Scared” and “Crying—that matched his peerless voice with imaginative arrangements. Orbison never abandoned his rock ‘n’ roll roots. “Oh, Pretty Woman” remains as sonically fresh today with its ringing guitars as it did when it topped the charts in 1964. Orbison’s swaggering version of “Mean Woman Blues” recalls Ray Charles in spirit, while a live version of “Claudette” from 1987 shows he could still deliver the goods in concert. “Not Alone Any More” and “Handle With Care,” two of Orbison’s collaborations in the Traveling Wilburys, put Orbison’s multi-range voice to good use in a band with George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne. The time limits of a CD mean some of Orbison’s better work is omitted, including “Uptown” and “That Lovin’ You Feelin’ Again,” a duet with Emmylou Harris. Still, The Ultimate Collection is a good introduction to Orbison for a new generation. (26 songs, 77 minutes) Chatham County Line HHH1/2 Autumn Yep Roc Records Chatham County Line, the North Carolina-based quartet, maintains its bluegrass roots on Autumn, its eighth studio album, but expands its range to remain

fresh musically. “You Are My Light” mixes rock ‘n’ roll with bluegrass and highlights the instrumental interplay between fiddler John Teer and banjo player Chandler Holt.

The bluesy “Bon Ton Roulet” employs New Orleans-style rhythms for a musical change of pace. “Rock in the River” spotlights the ensemble playing of the band, which continues to evolve since its formation in 1999. The instrumental “Bull City Strut” features some joyful picking and spotlights Holt’s propulsive banjo work. The up-tempo “Siren Song” is a celebration of romance. “Nothing will take your heart like a woman,” singer David Wilson observes. “Show Me The Door” puts the piano work of multi-instrumentalist Greg Readling in the spotlight as the band ventures into rock/pop territory. Autumn reveals a band still clicking on all cylinders. (11 songs, 38 minutes) Toni Neilson HHH1/2 Don’t Be Afraid Outside Music Music can be a form of catharsis, a way to deal with emotional upheaval and personal loss. That’s the approach Tami Neilson takes with Don’t Be Afraid, an album that finds her trying to come to terms with the death of her father, Ron, the patriarch of The Neilson Family Band. The raw title track, which is the final song her father had a hand in writing, offers a promise of support from beyond the grave. “Don’t be afraid for I’m with you/And I’m gonna see you through another day,” Neilson sings in a bluesy wail. “Holy Moses,” a soulful rocker, finds her contemplating mortality and working her way through the loss of a loved one. On “The First Man,” Neilson serves up a heartfelt remembrance of her father. “The last time he ever said my name/Was the last time my heart would ever be the same,” she observes. Neilson shows the range of her vocal talents with “Lonely,” a duet with Marlon Williams, that captures the feeling of emotional desolation, and “Loco Mama,” a zesty Latin-styled rocker with echoes of Los Lobos. Don’t Be Afraid ends with a snippet of Ron Neilson singing, a reminder that we carry the memories of those who go before us. (12 songs, 40 minutes) n

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music JAZZ / ROCK / CLASSICAL / ALT Terry Dolan HHHH1/2 Terry Dolan High Moon Who knows what evil/wonderfulness lurks in the vaults of record companies? Now we do—this Bay Area fellow Terry Dolan recorded an album with local rock luminaries in 1972 but for reasons unclear it was never released. Which is puzzling,

as it’s rather very good. While it’s very much of its time—some be-my-womanI’ll-be-your-man-type lyrics and keep-ontruckin’ rhythms—Dolan had a fine, soulful-without-affect voice (some similarities to Mike Nesmith and David Crosby), wrote elegantly down-to-earth songs, and his accompaniment is stellar: Nicky Hopkins, hired-gun pianist for The Rolling Stones, John Lennon, and The Kinks; Neal Schon (Santana, Journey), the Pointer Sisters (shortly before they made the charts), Prairie Prince (The Tubes), and guitar wiz John Cipollina of Quicksilver Messenger Service. Dolan’s “Rainbow” has some killer slide guitar guaranteed to warm the hearts of roots-y six-stringers, Hopkins is a joy to hear (these sessions were his only credit as producer), and the results circumvent the downside of early ‘70s rock—the songs are tight/concise 34

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and snappy. Dolan’s melodies are low-key but insinuatingly captivating. Fans of early ‘70s rock: Ready yourselves! (14 songs, 69 min.) highmoonrecords.com Guidi/Petrella/Sclavis/Cleaver HHHH Ida Lupino ECM Some non-jazz music fans complain (sometimes quite rightly) that “modern jazz” doesn’t give them (the novice listener) enough to hold on to. (Some old-erschool jazz fans maintain this as well.) Behold then the quartet of Giovanni Guidi (piano), Gianluca Petrella (trombone), Louis Sclavis (clarinet), and Gerald Cleaver (drums) subconsciously know this and behold, Ida Lupino (named after the actress and one of Hollywood’s first female film directors). While the overall mood is austere and contemplative and

Giovanni Guidi. Photo: Robert Cifarelli.

there are pieces of free-flowing creativity (“Gatol”), there is brainy yet swinging lyricism (the title tune) slightly evoking Dave Brubeck and heartrending balladry (“La Terra”). Guidi plays with the harmonious quality of Bill Evans and Keith Jarrett, Sclavis with full-bodied, amber warmth, Petrella is dynamic and expressive (occasional slightly raunchy tones), and

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Cleaver, an equal participant and not “just” a timekeeper, makes swirls of crisp crashes (sometimes a bit like thunder in the distance, sometimes on your backyard). True, you’ll not tap your foot to this, but this is moody, soulful, overcast afternoon music to get lost within (but not get left behind). (14 tracks, 78 min.) ecmrecords.com Lindsey Webster HHH Back to Your Heart Shanachie Those of you with memories (that go back more than five years) might be wondering, “Who’s going to maintain/enrich the legacies of Sade, Anita Baker, Basia,

Patti Austin, and Natalie Cole?” Call it jazzpop, adult contemporary R&B, and/or quiet storm—sleek song-craft, melodious with light jazz overtones and a sexy groove, mellow but mature vocals. There’s this new gal Lindsey Webster—vocally she is kindred to the throughshes mentioned above, albeit with a bit more youthful swagger and touches of gospel rave-up in her phrasing. The only thing separating “good” from “great” are her songs here—they are pleasant but nothing jumps out and grabs the heart or sticks in the mind. But the seed of greatness is there, and meantime Heart is a nice mainstream chill-out platter. (11 tracks, 50 min.) shanachie.com

Ray Charles HHHH1/2 Zurich 1961: Swiss Radio Days Jazz Series 41 TCB Kenny Burrell HHHHH Unlimited 1 HighNote Here are a couple of big band jazz platters by performers not usually associated with, well, big band jazz. Ray Charles is known for his scorching rhythm &

blues songs and iconic interpretations of country music; Kenny Burrell, for suave, blues-hued, soul-jazz grooves and, naturally, his guitar virtuosity. Charles’ set consists of previously unreleased live recordings from Switzerland 1961; Burrell’s set is of more recent vintage, also live with a orchestra. Zurich 1961 highlights the somewhat lesser-known jazz side of Charles’ musical persona, the jazz side. (He co-led an album with Milt Jackson in ‘58 and he played a mean alto sax, though not here.) Bro Ray’s band included stalwarts of his previous bands, including the infamous sax ace David “Fathead” Newman and alto saxist Hank Crawford along with jazz legends Marcus Belgrave and Dickie Wells and some snazzy arrangements by Quincy Jones. The program consists of straight-up blues with strong jazz overtones (“I’ve Got News for You”) and spunky, shiny versions of jazz classics (two Benny Golson gems, “I Remember Clifford” and “Along Came Betty”), with only bits of R&B (“Hit

MARK KERESMAN

the Road Jack,” “My Baby”). Ray’s singing is subdued but soulful as usual, and there’s some outstanding Crawford too. (17 tracks, 79 min.) Burrell has a unique crystalline sound, svelte, warm, and gently funky, a synthesis of guitar forefathers Django Reinhardt, Charlie Christian, and T-Bone Walker—along with Jim Hall and Wes Montgomery, Burrell is one of the most influential of mainstream jazz sixstringers. He plays in a relatively rare big band context here with the Los Angeles Jazz Orchestra Unlimited and it’s mostly dandy. Duke Ellington is a big inspiration here—three Duke tunes covered and the

The Monochrome Set Cosmonaut Tapete

The Monochrome Set. Photo: Tapete Records.

Kenny Burrell. Photo: Reed Hutchinson.

horn section oozes Ellingtonian ensemble elegance. Naturally, there’s groove jazz (the near-oblique “Soulero”—Burrell burns here) and stirring mixes of bebop, blues, and big band sophistication (“Stolen Moments”). Singer Barbara Morrison does a guest shot singing an Eartha Kitt-enish, puckish version of “Things Ain’t What They Used to Be.” Burrell sounds extra-inspired in this setting, and the Orchestra plays with plenty of spunk. (16 tracks, 76 min.) jazzdepot.com

The UK’s Monochrome Set, formed in 1978 (with Adam Ant an original member), virtually set the standard for the coolly aloof, droll post punk, full of witheringly witty lyrics and subtly catchy song-craft is still at it, bless ‘em. While not sounding “just like” them, The M-Set set the stage for such urbane UK combos such as The Smiths, The Beautiful South, and Belle & Sebastian. Singer Bid’s crooning vocals are still so mannered and so very English as to make Morrissey seem like Tom Waits by comparison, but the tunes rock harder than before. Yes, the Set are still fastidiously accomplished in presentation, but the ringing guitar, pumping organ, and bashed drums of the title track evoke Paul Revere & The Raiders, The Byrds, and The Monkees (a hint of “Last Train to Clarksville”). “Stick Your Hand Up If You’re Louche” (oy!) tears out of the speakers/earbuds like the post-Roy Loney Flamin’ Groovies (or Murmur-era REM, for youthful readers) like a bat out of heaven. It’s good to get excited about a rock album again. (10 songs, 38 min.) tapeterecords.de n

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7 WORLD WAR I AND AMERICAN ART

Poetically speaking, it is a powerfully tragic elegy on the ultimate state of the human condition. Emotionally, one of the most powerful pieces in the exhibition is Horace Pippin’s End of the War: Starting Home! A self-taught artist, Pippin had served in the trenches and was badly wounded during the war. His experience is given voice in thick layers of paint and poignant passages of memory. The complex process of making the picture

John Singer Sargent (1856–1925) The Interior of a Hospital Tent, 1918 Watercolor on paper, 15 ½ × 20 ¾ in. Fr.: 28 ¾ x 34 x 1 in. Imperial War Museums, London, England, Gift of the artist, 1919

gave his involvement in combat and its expression in brooding colors a profoundly therapeutic dimension, and an entry into a career as a painter whose roots brought great meaning to the final years of his life.

Horace Pippin (1888–1946) Dog Fight over the Trenches, 1935 Oil on canvas, 18 × 33 1/8 in. Fr.: 19 1/8 x 34 3/16 x 1 7/16 in. Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Gift of Joseph H. Hirshhorn, 1966, 66.4071

The exhibition also demonstrates how American artists reacted to a period when a wide range of changes replaced the manner of the academic style as the principal mode of expression for making serious art. Typically, examples by Howard Chandler Christy, James Montgomery Flagg and Charles Dana Gibson add up to an installation that never becomes tiresome, monotonous or boring. n Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 118-128 North Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA (215) 972-7600 pafa.org

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committee, an odd thing considering how long it took the Brooklyn-born comic to win independence from Sid Caesar’s Your Show of Shows’ writing team; a true murderer’s row of comic minds—Carl Reiner, Neil Simon, Danny Simon, and Mel Tolkin. Brooks’ time with Ceasar lasted from 1949 until 1957 with Brooks teaming up with Reiner (“My best friend who I call every morning and who tells me what’s happening online and with Twitter. He loves the Twitter”) in 1959 for their multi-generational The 2000 Year Old Man. “No, I don’t think that I got sick of the group writing mentality,” he said. “It wasn’t bad. It was fun, But, of course you want to do your own thing.” In 1962, Brooks wrote the Broadway musical All American with Lee Adams and Charles Strouse for Ray Bolger and director Joshua Logan. In 1963, Brooks conceived and narrated the animated short film The Critic for which he won the Academy Award for Animated Short Film. By 1965, he teamed up with comedy writer Buck Henry to create Get Smart, “…a show about an idiot, no one ever did that before.” Finally, by 1968 Brooks was on his own with his first feature film, The Producers (for which he received an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay) then 1970’s The Twelve Chairs. Ask Brooks if his wanting to direct and write on his own had anything to do with his time in the military as an Army Corporal during World War II (“Not a phony baloney one, but a real corporal”) and he says that he was “just looking to protect the scripts, and the casting—truly the most important thing. Getting Gene Wilder and Madeline Kahn and just letting them run with the scripts. That was the key to my movies.” (Of his time in the Army Brooks does tease that he did not get his just due: “I should have received the Congressional Medal of Honor for ducking and surviving on eating Army C Rations.”) Then there was Tex-X, a satire that he began to develop in 1972 with writer Andrew Bergman (The In-Laws, Fletch, Soapdish, The Freshman and Honeymoon in Vegas are his) that would parody the classic John Wayne/Gary Cooper western tropes of the 1930s and ‘40s that blossomed in Blazing Saddles. And it is true—Brooks did give the controversial script to the Duke as the director wanted Wayne to play the Waco Kid. “We were in the commissary at Warners, I gave him the script and he promised he’d read it. The next morning I saw him and he says that he loves it, but that it’s too blue, that it would disappoint his fans.” Not long after this, Brooks cast another Hollywood legend, Gig Young, in that same role but the actor collapsed on set from what was alcohol withdrawal syndrome. Gene Wilder, whom Brooks cast in The Producers (and would write and star with Brooks on Young Frankenstein) became the Waco Kid to Cleavon Little’s black sheriff. Going back to the element of team screenwriting, Brooks says that, “There were five of us on that script including Richard Pryor, me, Norman Steinberg and Andrew Bergman. We were like The Show of Shows reborn what with pitching ideas and writing ideas. We all realized that we were in deep dark territory….a black sheriff coming into an all-white town with typical backward racist attitudes. We had to know what we were doing so that we were careful about story lines and structure as well as just the off the wall jokes, off-color jokes too, pardon the double meaning.” Obviously having Pryor on board (originally cast as the Sheriff until he was deemed an insurance risk due to his drug use) as part of the writing team was crucial in maintaining taste levels good and bad. Brooks states that he won support for his controversial racist language from Pryor and Little. “You couldn’t make this film today, with some of the language we used,” says Brooks. Of Pryor, the director states that the two were old friends long before Blazing Saddles as each were stand-up comics in the Greenwich Village. Of the 1960s, “He’d do his act, I’d do mine and we’d meet for Chinese food. Later, when I did Blazing Saddles I told him there was real money in writing this,and that I’ll pay for lunch—which for him was Remy Martin. He was very fond of lunch—a very funny, sweet man. One time, he was really sick and couldn’t do his show, and he called me in a slurred voice and said ‘Melllllllll I can’t do the show. I need you to go on for me.’ So I did his show. The whole bit. It’s not easy being black, and I talked about having a black grandmother.” As for their Blazing Saddles, not only does Brooks see it as the funniest film he’s ever made, but the funniest film ever. “Ever,” he says. “Anything ever! I’m including the funny Italian films and English comedies, as well as The Producers. I’m challenging the American Film Institute, you know? They stated that Some Like it Hot was the funniest film ever made. Now, it’s a wonderful movie—terrific. But I want to have a laugh off between them. I predict a landslide of laughter for Blazing Saddles.” n

BOB PERKINS

jazz library

THAD JONES

HE PAGES OF HISTORY are replete with stories about talented people in various walks of life, who for whatever reason did not receive recognition commensurate with their achievements. In the world of music, one of the names that come to my mind is Thad Jones. The biography of Thad Jones, bandleader, composer, arranger, and multi-instrumentalist, is long and filled with accomplishments. Jones came to my attention many years ago, when I discovered he was one of three brothers, all of whom were either recognized jazz artists, or were soon to become world renowned. Born in Pontiac Michigan, he was one of ten children. His brother Hank was a pianist and had already established himself as a fine soloist, accompanist to vocalists, and CBS studio musician. His younger brother Elvin was making headway, but had not yet come into own. While Thad was still in grade school, his uncle bought him a trumpet. He received lessons in school, but learned more from instruction books. By age 16 he was gigging with brother Hank. He later took to the road with a band and toured the southern states. In 1943, at the age of twenty, he was drafted into the army and joined a military band. When he was discharged three years later, he joined another area band and toured the Chitlin Circuit with Larry Steele’s Smart Affairs variety show. Along the way, Jones was honing his arranging skills, and in 1954 he landed a trumpet chair in the Count Basie band. It was there that his musicianship and arranging skills were recognized. Several years into his tenure with Basie, the band recorded the killer version of “April in Paris.” Vernon Duke had written the great standard-pop version of the song, and pianist/organist Wild Bill Davis had written his own jazz arrangement, and gave it to Basie as a gift. Basie recorded it, with Jones featured on the trumpet solo. The solo was magnificent in itself, but when Jones injected an excerpt from “Pop goes the Weasel,” the Basie version of “April in Paris” became a jazz classic. The Basie Band’s version is played by jazz program hosts today, because it still draws listener attention. Downbeat awarded Jones their New Star Award in 1956. In 1957, and on tour with the Basie Band in London, Jones honored Queen Elizabeth with his composition H.R.H. (Her Royal Highness). Jones remained with the Basie Band until 1963, all the while performing as featured soloist on “April in Paris,” Bob Perkins is a writer and host of an all-jazz radio program that airs on WRTI-FM 90.1 Monday through Thursday night from 6:00 to 9:00pm and Sunday, 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM.

“Shiny Stockings” and “Corner Pocket,” and, putting together at least two-dozen compositions and arrangements for the band. After leaving the Basie Orchestra, Jones freelanced as a sideman and arranger around New York, and in 1966, joined with drummer Mel Lewis to form the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra. The band held forth also at the famed Village Vanguard for a dozen years. The co-leaders were awarded a Grammy for their album Live in Munich. Jones also held a teaching position at William Paterson College in New Jersey, which is home for the Thad Jones archive, containing pencil scores and photos as part of the Living Jazz Archive. Jones moved to Copenhagen, Denmark in the late 1970s, and led the Danish Radio Big Band for six months. When he returned to the States he resumed co-leadership of the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Band Orchestra, only to

Photo: Ray Avery / CTS Images

leave Lewis again and return to Demark to continue heading the Danish Big Band, to marry a Danish woman, and to teach jazz studies at the Royal Danish Conservatory in Copenhagen. Jones returned to the U.S. in 1985, to front the Count Basie Orchestra following the Basie’s death. Because of failing health, he only remained leader for one year, then returned to his home in Copenhagen, and a few months later passed away. His best known composition is a beautiful and hearttugging jazz standard titled, “A Child Is Born.” Miles Davis spoke highly of Jones’ command of the trumpet, and a great number of his contemporaries frequently applauded his arranging ability. Thad Jones may not have received all the recognition that was due him, but he continued to perform as a top-notch musician, arranger, and an inspiration for those with good taste and big ears. n

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A.D. AMOROSI

FOODIE FILE

The simple elegance of Harp & Crown— The elegant simplicity of Root

Harp & Crown’s Michael Schuson

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AS 2016 COMES TO A close, two curious local restaurant veterans opened neighborhood-driven eateries whose menus, décor and vibe differed wildly from the norm (let alone each other) and whose successes were all but guaranteed as soon as each hot spot opened their door: Center City’s Harp & Crown from chef/multiple venue owner Michael Schulson with wife Nina TinariSchulson and Chef Karen Nicholas; Fishtown’s Root from longtime Starr Restaurant Group associate Greg Root and Chef Nick Kennedy. While this is in no way a comparison (how and why would you bother contrasting H&C’s hearty new-American menu, vintage industrial-meets-Victorian décor with a bowling alley in its basement yet, to Root’s delicate Spanish-Italian food and luxe tapered bachelor pad elan) each have one rudimentary element in common—they elevate comfort food to new heights. They each have inventive toasts in common: H&C, the whipped creamy Chicken Liver Mousse with blackberry, walnut, smoked maple; Root, the densely decadent Winter Squash with pomegranate, chili crème fraiche, brown butter and mint. Oh, and they both pour mean cocktails: H&C’s “Dying Declaration” of bourbon, cinnamon tincture and bitters as well as Root’s signature Gin-Tonics like its Bluecoat, Mediterranean tonic, sage and grapefruit concoction. As designed by Rohe Creative with the Schulsons (the same team that did the similar two-floor Double Knot coffee bar-sushi/skewer salon) Harp & Crown is too-much with every nook of the ground floor’s 24-foot ceilinged, exposed brick-and-beam room touched by reclaimed tin tiles, purposefully yellowed wallpaper, marvelous mirror molds. Chandeliers, glamorous and tattered, detailed millwork and more daguerreotype-like

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Greg Root and Nick Kennedy. Photo: Evan Easterling TTN

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38 HARP & CROWN / ROOT

photos than Matthew Brady shot during the Civil War. Your voyage into the dark, bowling-basement Elbow Lane is no less crammed floor to low ceiling with curios and visual tics from molded frames the Schulsons placed upon the alley walls (two reservation-only lanes), to Brit pub-ish leather club chairs. The cool, odd cram that is H&C’s look definitely figures into Chef Karen Nicolas’ (Tria, Citron + Rose) cuisine, as each bite goes one (fabulous) step too far. The Spicy Soppressata pizza (take some home, you’ll want it again cold) is just a bit hotter because of its sliced shishito peppers, but sweeter too with its drizzle of honey. The tender Spanish Octopus small plate with preserved fennel and olive has a surprisingly rich, mildly piquant guajillo sauce you’ll want to sop with bread—or more octopus. From there, Nicolas’ opulent seasonal global cuisine touches down upon everything from the robust Brit-German Duck & Foie Rilette with grape, olive and schmaltz toast; the Japanese Hamachi with kohlrabi, lime, macadamia and mint and its richer, meatier sister rare Hanger Steak with shiitake, charred shishito and lime leaf butter; the musky Mediterranean Lamb Meatballs and its lighter cousin, the halibut with chickpeas in a fennel broth; and the twist on Italian with H&C’s Corn Flour Fettuccine featuring duck sausage ragu, and parmigiano-reggiano cheese. For dessert, do the lemon tart—it’s a zing of sweet-and-sour to perfectly end the meal. Root, sleekly designed by Richard Stokes Architecture, looks like nothing else on Frankford Avenue’s casual eatery row (Fette Sau, Johnny Brenda’s, etc), which is exactly the point. In this respect, Root’s low-lit visual tip of theater chiffon curtains, teal 60-ish armchairs, a center tiled bar, Mod glass bulbs and Corinthian plush leather banquettes topped with mirrors (resembling rear view windows) is polished and tony, like placing Bryan Ferry alongside The Clash in terms of the Fishtown neighborhood’s overall aesthetic. So, too, is Root’s menu an easy on the palette bit of eleganza what with Kennedy’s culinary backstory tied to that of swell renowned Manhattan kitchens such as Del Posto and JeanGeorges. A menu as taut, focused and intimate as Root’s design, each dish feels curated rather than merely cooked. The stuffed log of Croquetta with smoked mushroom, lemon and parsley is just smoky enough to maintain its smoldering cure and the delicate musky taste. The simple toasted Cauliflower & Caper Zeppole with pickled pepper sauce lays just enough heat in the back of your throat without losing the cauliflower focus. The Spinach-Ricotta Gnudi were like yogurt fluff-orbs of green goodness when paired with mushrooms, sage and a lustrous brown butter. The Seafood à la Plancha featuring meaty scallops, wide, tender head-on shrimp, and thinly sliced rings of calamari in a lemon-Aleppo vinaigrette was zestfully tasty. While desserts such as its chocolate mendiants from Christopher Curtin at Éclat would go great with a deep red wine for the cold season—heck, Root doubles as a wine bar beyond its G&Ts with Italian ansonica, Portuguese baga and Greek xinomavro as highlights— we opted for the dense, delicious Olive Oil Cake with maple whipped yogurt with a strong espresso for a warm rich feel on a bitterly chilled evening. Again, while this is no comparative look, Harp & Crown and Root are both exquisite hangouts for drinks and small plates beyond dinner (the burgers at Root, the pizzas at H&C) and exemplars on blocks—the recent growth spurt at 15th & Sansom for H&C, the incrementally building Frankford Avenue—and both push Philly’s casual dining scene to new holy highs. n

harper’s FINDINGS

INDEX

Paleontologists noticed that a 48-million-year-old fossil was of an insect eaten by a lizard eaten by a snake. A western desert tarantula fought its way out of a Sonoran Desert toad, and an Indian python regurgitated an antelope after being scrutinized by villagers. Australian catfish were found to be eating many mice. Maple and beech saplings can tell when their buds are being eaten by roe deer, and slugs are eating baby birds, but no defense mechanism has yet been exhibited by adult birds, one of whom was observed incubating a slug that was eating the bird’s chicks. Zebra-finch hatchlings sing like their families, even after the hatchlings have been deafened by scientists. The melody of a human infant’s first cry depends on its mother’s native language. Zika could be spread by tears. Ebola that hid in a man’s testes for 500 days emerged and killed eight people. A Manchester man was found to have died of complications from a fungal infection acquired from his bagpipes. A Hector’s dolphin with an inoperative blowhole has learned to mouth-breathe. Miami Seaquarium refused to release its orca into the wild, stating, “There is no scientific evidence that the 49-year-old post-reproductive Lolita could survive.”

Percentage of American renters who spend more than half their salary on housing: 28 Percentage change since 1996 in the price of U.S. higher education: +197 Of televisions: –96 Factor by which the annual number of reported bomb threats at U.S. schools has increased since 2011: 15.6 Number of years by which an average U.S. book reader outlives a nonreader: 2 Rank of the United States among countries with the largest proportion of book readers: 6 Of China: 1 Rank of the United States among countries with the tallest male population today: 37 In 1914: 3 Number of Egyptian anchorwomen suspended in August for being overweight: 8 Number of Syrian refugees settled in Erie, Pennsylvania: 265 In New York City and Los Angeles combined: 58 Years by which life expectancy has fallen for Syrian men since 2011: 6 Number of suspected drug users or dealers who have been killed in the Filipino war on drugs since July: 2,078 Estimated number who have turned themselves in to the police: 700,000 Date on which the Justice Dept. announced that the 13 privately run federal prisons would be closing: 8/18/2016 Number of state prisons that are at least partially run by private companies: 89 Factor by which the number of women held in local U.S. jails has increased since 1970: 14 Rank of police officer among the deadliest professions in the United States: 15 Of logger: 1 Min. number of traffic tickets that have been successfully challenged by online chatbot DoNotPay: 180,000 Factor by which the number of robocalls in the United States has increased over the past year: 3 Estimated number of postal codes into which a British startup has divided Mongolia: 175,000,000,000 Minimum number of Indian public employees who participated in a September strike: 160,000,000 Length in years of from Chanu Sharmila’s hunger strike against the Indian government: 16 Portion of the global population that has no access to a health-care worker: 1/5 Est. portion of U.S. counties in which only one insurer will be available on their health exchange next year: 3/10 Number of states that require aborted fetuses to be either interred or cremated: 6 Number of states that do not require Electoral College members to vote for the candidate who won their state: 20 Number of states in which voters can be declared ineligible if they have a mental disability: 39 Percentage of Americans who cast a vote for either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump in the 2016 primary: 9 Minimum number of superdelegates at the Democratic National Convention who were registered lobbyists: 63 Factor by which employees are more likely to contribute to a given political campaign if their CEO does: 3 Number of general-election TV ads aired by Clinton campaign before Trump campaign aired its first: 70,724 Number of countries that have had a female head of state: 52 Respective ranks of Clinton and Trump among the least liked presidential candidates since polling began: 2,1 Number of successive years that the United States has been operating under a state of emergency: 36 Number of different states of emergency currently in effect in the United States: 28 Percentage by which U.S. sales of adult-incontinence products are expected to rise by 2020: 48

9 A female Greenland shark who died as fishing by-catch was around 400 years old. A shortage of fish urine will harm coral reefs. Scientists described a new crab genus in a Chinese pet market and a sleeping beauty rain frog in a Peruvian rainforest. Giraffes are four species. The first confirmed puppy twins were born. A herd of 323 reindeer were killed by lightning. A queenless colony of ants were found living in a Soviet nuclear bunker, perpetually starving to death and being replenished by new ants who fall from the surface. The last Achatinella apexfulva snail, a nine-year-old with no offspring, remained alive in a lab in Hawaii. Hawaiian crows can use tools to extract food, but will never need to do so, because they are extinct in the wild. Indian bird dealers continued embellishing and disguising birds with coal dust, food coloring, lamp soot, oil, shoe polish, spray paint, and textile dyes. New Zealand hoped to design new stoat traps using anal-gland technology in order to avoid attracting endangered alpine parrots. The last woolly mammoths died of thirst.

9 The sixth taste may be starchy. “Food altars” of leftovers from meetings and miscellaneous offerings may endanger American offices. Vegetarians spend less money on groceries than carnivores do, but “partial vegetarians” tend to be richer and to spend more. Researchers discovered a genetic variant for “thrifty” fat storage in Samoans. Cuddlier infants are at lower risk of obesity. Swaggering walkers are more aggressive. Teen boys at all-male therapeutic boarding schools adopt feminine behaviors to reassert masculine dominance. Many four-year-olds are not sufficiently coordinated to go to school. People enjoy being helped with omelet preparation by a clumsy and apologetic robot more than by a competent and laconic one. A ratchet spanner and a tap aerator were removed from the penises of two old Danes using a condom and an angle grinder. Canadian doctors described a penetrating penile injury by nail gun. PTSD is notably absent from Middle Byzantine military records. Sleep consolidates the memory of new Welsh words best in those who care about Welsh. Neuroscientists offered a theory of the wandering mind.

SOURCES: 1 Michael Carliner (Potomac, Md.); 2,3 American Enterprise Institute (Washington); 4 Educator’s School Safety Network (Genoa, Ohio); 5 Martin Slade, Yale School of Medicine (New Haven, Conn.); 6,7 GfK Global (London); 8,9 James Bentham, Imperial College London; 10 Women’s Center for Guidance and Legal Awareness (Dakahlia, Egypt); 11,12 U.S. Department of State; 13 Ali Mokdad, University of Washington (Seattle); 14,15 Human Rights Watch (N.Y.C.); 16 American Civil Liberties Union (Washington); 17 Management and Training Corporation (Centerville, Utah)/GEO Group (Boca Raton, Fla.)/Corrections Corporation of America (Nashville, Tenn.); 18 Vera Institute of Justice (N.Y.C.); 19,20 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics; 21 Joshua Browder (Stanford, Calif.); 22 YouMail National Robocall Index (N.Y.C.); 23 what3words (London); 24 Centre of Indian Trade Unions (New Delhi); 25 Human Rights Watch; 26 International Labour Organization (Geneva); 27 Kaiser Family Foundation (Washington); 28 Tanya Marsh, Wake Forest University (Winston-Salem, N.C.); 29 National Conference of State Legislatures (Denver); 30 Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law (Washington); 31 Dave Leip (Newton, Mass.); 32 Sunlight Foundation (Washington); 33 Ilona Babenko, Arizona State University (Phoenix); 34 Wesleyan Media Project (Middletown, Conn.); 35 World Economic Forum (Geneva); 36 Roper Center for Public Opinion Research, Cornell University (Ithaca, N.Y.); 37,38 The White House (Washington); 39 Euromonitor International (Chicago).

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The Los Angeles Times SUNDAY CROSSWORD PUZZLE

LEND ME YOUR EARS By Jeffrey Wechsler Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis 1 6 14 18 20 21 22 24 25 26 27 28 29 31

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ACROSS “That’s a __” Brie-ripening agent SASEs, e.g. Skulking milieu, with “the” Considering identical Aviation prefix Candy served on a corporate blimp? “Better Call ___” Fine netting Discipline that often emphasizes breathing LAX report “Rigoletto” composer Uses a rudder “Say it soft and it’s almost like praying” song “Success!” Often censored musical groups? Former NBA exec Jackson Network with its HQ in Ottawa Very long time City on the Ohio and Erie Canal Put into words Harvest units Airline with blue-striped jets Get bluffed out, say Biblical landing site __ agent Disengaged Element #5 Quotable late athlete “In spades!” Label for the Swedish duo Roxette Rather uninspired cocktail? Suffix with concert Prom limo, e.g. Alberto VO5 competitor Barcelona bar fare Fancy dos Rusty nail liquor Ancient warship with two decks of oars Connect with the space station Eucalyptus, for one Bucket list list Ready to mate 2005 “Survivor” island Nemo’s realm High-speed letters Stroke from Venus?

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95 What happens at the southern terminus of Interstate 65? 99 Relevant 101 Iraqi port 102 Fluid transfer tool 107 Jones with nine Grammys 108 Ring legend 111 Italian man 113 Sycophant 114 “Amores” author 115 Pair of lustrous Kleenex? 119 Oracle 120 Thwart bigtime 121 Take umbrage 122 Celtic language 123 Landscape ruiners 124 Prepare for a dubbing DOWN 1 Make oneself heard 2 Oahu outsider 3 Confuse 4 Press secretary under LBJ 5 Pastoral parent 6 Nonchooser? 7 Some tanks 8 Magna __ laude 9 Little bit 10 French 101 infinitive 11 Card relative? 12 Hurting 13 Power players in state law: Abbr. 14 Brought slowly (into) 15 First asp most likely to bite when the group is disturbed? 16 Bite-size veggies 17 What loners seek 18 Snorkel and his peers: Abbr. 19 “As I’m thinking about it ... ” 23 Like 114-Across 28 Sprawling 30 “I like that!” 32 It’s held in a pen 33 Share an opinion 35 OR personnel 37 Dawn goddess 38 Head for the hills 39 Tokyo-based airline 41 Auto design element 42 How sundaes are often served? 43 LBJ biographer Robert __ 47 Natural emollient 48 Napoleonic Wars weapon

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Property destroyer Ophthalmologist’s procedure Cook, as scallops Make the wrong move Overreact to spilt milk Film series Vietnam veteran Vietnam Veterans Memorial designer Canal problem? Creature Bite result, often Cookware coating Gift from a lover 45 rpm record pioneer Busts and such __ room Receipts Parched Salmon predator “E! News” subject Salmon predators Evaluate symptoms Superficial look Venerable N.Y. tech school Busting org. Eastern nursemaid Cargo measure Gp. following gas prices Rapid increase Of ill repute Leave town for a bit

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“1984” working class Audits a course, say Familia member Western sheriff’s aid __ cuisine 1961 Newbery Medal winner Scott __ 106 Where KO means Coca-Cola

109 110 112 115 116 117 118

Brain segment 106-Down debuts Gambling option in many sts. “The Waste Land” monogram DDE’s command River within Switzerland Drive up the wall

Answer to November’s puzzle, FOLLOWING UP

agenda FINE ART THRU 12/22 Holiday Gift Gallery, Handmade by local artists. Opening reception 12/1, 6-8 PM. Destination Arts Third Thursday 12/15, 6-8 PM. 510 West Linden St., Allentown, PA. 610-433-0032. BaumSchool.org THRU 1/7/2017 Natural Philosophy, curated by Paul Nicholson. Martin Art Gallery, Baker Center for the Arts, Muhlenberg College, 2400 Chew Street Allentown PA. 484-664-3467. Muhlenberg.edu THRU 1/22/2017 Warren Rohrer, The Language of Mark Making. Allentown Art Museum of the Lehigh Valley, 31 North 5th St., Allentown, PA. 610-432-4333. AllentownArtMuseum.org THRU 1/22/2017 Rural Modern: American Art Beyond The City, explores the adaptation of modernist styles to subject matter associated with the American countryside. Brandywine River Museum of Art, Route 1, Chadds Ford, PA. 610388-2700. Brandywine.org/museum THRU 1/29/2017 Thomas Eakins: Photographer. Thomas Eakins' early adoption of the new art and science of photography changed his career, and the course of American figurative art. Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Richard C. von Hess Foundation Works on Paper Gallery, Historic Landmark Building, 118-128 North Broad St., Philadelphia, PA (215) 972-7600 pafa.org THRU 1/31/2017 Home for the Holidays! Group exhibition. Open house weekend, Dec. 10th & 11th, 1-5pm. Silverman Gallery of Bucks County Impressionist Art. Buckingham Green, Rt. 202, just south of New Hope. 4920 York Road, Holicong, PA 18928. 215-7944300. silvermangallery.com THRU 2/5/2017 Greetings: Holiday Cards by Artists. Allentown Art Museum of the Lehigh Valley, 31 North 5th St., Allentown, PA. 610-432-4333. AllentownArtMuseum.org

THRU 3/28/2017 Anthony Viscardi, Shadow Landings. Allentown Art Museum of the Lehigh Valley, 31 North 5th St., Allentown, PA. 610-432-4333. AllentownArtMuseum.org

lished artists, including paintings, prints, digital art, photography, and more. Opening reception 12/4, 3-6 8 Church St., Lambertville, NJ. 609-3972977. RiverQueenArtisans.com

THRU 2/5/17 Allentown X 7, Photographic Explorations. Allentown Art Museum of the Lehigh Valley, 31 North 5th St., Allentown, PA. 610-432-4333. AllentownArtMuseum.org

THEATER / DANCE

THRU 2/5/2017 A Big Story. An exhibition at PAFA devoted to work by selected American artists and illustrators. Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Samuel M.V. Hamilton Building, 118-128 North Broad St., Philadelphia, PA (215) 972-7600 pafa.org THRU 3/5/2017 Melt/Carve/Forge: Embodied Sculptures By Cassils. Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Morris Gallery, Historic Landmark Building, 118-128 North Broad St., Philadelphia, PA (215) 972-7600 pafa.org THRU 4/9/2017 World War I and American Art. The first major exhibition devoted to exploring the ways in which American artists reacted to the First World War. Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Fisher Brooks Gallery, Samuel M.V. Hamilton Building, 118128 North Broad St., Philadelphia, PA (215) 972-7600 pafa.org 12/2-12/18 Small Works Show (Gift a Little Art) Artists of Yardley Art Center, 949 Mirror Lake Road, Yardley. Fri, Sat, Sun 12-5 artistsofyardley.org 12/3-12/12 2015 PSC Legacy Art Sales Exhibition: A non-juried online exhibition open to PSC member participants. The Philadelphia Sketch Club, 235 South Camac Street, Philadelphia PA 215-545-9298 sketchclub.org 12/4-2/11/2017 Cold Weather, Warm Art. River Queen Artisans Gallery features the work of local emerging and estab-

THRU 12/11 The Homecoming: A Christmas Story. Act 1 Performing Arts, DeSales University, Labuda Center for the Performing Arts, 2755 Station Ave., Center Valley, PA. 610-2823192. Desales.edu/act1 1/13 -1/15/2017 The Island by Allentown Public Theatre. The human spirit that conquered apartheid still lives. 1/13 & 1/14 at 8pm, and 1/15 at 2pm. The IceHouse, 56 River St., Bethlehem. Pay-what-you-will. 888-895-5645. www.allentownpublictheatre.com. CONCERTS 12/2-12/17 A Christmas Carol. Civic Theatre, 527 N. 19th St., Allentown, PA. 610-432-8943. Civictheatre.com

12/7 Handel Messiah, soloists Kathryn Aaron, Roger Isaacs, Stephen Sands, Elem Eley and the Pennsylvania Sinfonia Orchestra, Allan Birney conducting. First Presbyterian Church of Allentown, PA. 610-4347811. PACamerataSingers.org

Williams. 8:00 PM, Cathedral Arts, Cathedral Church of the Nativity, 321 Wyandotte St., Bethlehem, PA. 610-865-0727 nativitycathedral.org 12/18 Christmas Concert Vox Philia, Choral Ensemble, 4:00 PM. Arts at St. John’s, St. John’s Lutheran Church, 37 So. Fifth St., Allentown, PA. Free-will offering at all programs. 610-435-1641. Stjohnsallentown.org

12/9

12/18 The Third Annual Sing-Along Messiah. 7:00 PM, Cathedral Arts, Cathedral Church of the Nativity, 321 Wyandotte St., Bethlehem, PA. 610-865-0727. Nativitycathedral.org

12/16

12/20 A Festival Service of Nine Lessons and Carols. 7:00 PM, Cathedral Arts, Cathedral Church of the Nativity, 321 Wyandotte St., Bethlehem, PA. 610-865-0727. Nativitycathedral.org

12/27

12/25 Organ Noëls, 3:00 PM, Cathedral Arts, Cathedral Church of the Nativity, 321 Wyandotte St., Bethlehem, PA. 610-865-0727. Nativitycathedral.org KESWICK THEATRE 291 N Keswick Ave Glenside, Pennsylvania 215-572-7650 keswicktheatre.com

12/10 The Bach Choir of Bethlehem Christmas Oratorio, Parts 4,5 & 6. First Presbyterian Church of Allentown, Adults, $40/Students, $9. 3231 W. Tilghman St., Allentown, PA. 610-395-3781. Bach.org

12/4 12/8 12/9

12/11 The Bach Choir of Bethlehem Christmas Oratorio, Parts 4,5 & 6. First Presbyterian Church of Bethlehem. 2344 Center St., Bethlehem, PA. Adults, $37/Students, $9. 610866-4382, ext. 110/115. Bach.org

12/29

12/16 The Complete Organ Works of J.S. Bach, Program 7, organist Stephen

MUSIKFEST CAFÉ´ 101 Founders Way, Bethlehem 610-332-1300. Artsquest.org

12/10 12/14 12/15

12/31 1/19 1/21 1/25

Art Garfunkel in Close-Up Big Bad Voodoo Daddy An Evening with David Crosby & Friends Holiday Doo Wop Vienna Boys Choir Pink Martini Holiday Spectacular Chrisette Michele & Special Guest Raheem Devaughn The Wall Live Extravaganza Celebrating the 50th anniversary of Pink Floyd Decades Rewind An Evening with Pat Metheny Kris Kristofferson

W W W. fa C E B O O k . C O M / I C O N D V

12/10 12/11 12/11 12/15

12/17 12/22 12/26

12/28 12/29 12/31 1/6 1/21

The Chapin Family Holiday Show Martin Sexton Three Wise Men (Brew Master, Winemaker, Distiller) Jorma Kaukonen TAKE DANCE: Somewhere Familiar Melodies Delta Rae: Winter Acoustic Tour Scythian Swingin’ the Holidays with The Rob Stoneback Big Band The Lou Franco Guitar Show Jimmy & The Parrots: Holiday Parrot Party The Sofa Kings The Philadelphia Funk Authority The Red Elvises’ New Year’s Eve Spectacular The Nerds Eaglemania: The World’s Greatest Eagles Tribute Band EVENTS

THRU 1/2/17 Peddler’s Village Gingerbread Competition & Display is a feast for the eyes with more than 75 creative and whimsical entries in the Village Gazebo on display during shopping hours. Free admission. Peddler’s Village, Routes 202 & 263, Lahaska, PA. 215-794-4000. Peddlersvillage.com 12/3 & 12/4 Celebrate the holidays at the Annual Peddler’s Village Christmas Festival. Santa Parade on both days at 1:30 pm. Peddler’s Village, Routes 202 & 263, Lahaska, PA. 215-7944000. Peddlersvillage.com 12/9-12/24 Lynda Bahr Trunk Show. 28 S. Main St., New Hope, PA. 215-862-1880. Heartofthehome.com.

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